Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Democrats were performing “political gymnastics at an Olympic level” in there expected effort to resist funding for the Department of Defense.
In remarks on the Senate floor, the Kentucky Republican raised the issue of Democrats’ anticipated opposition to appropriations bills moving forward as blocking funding to Ukraine, while Mr. McConnell said Democrats were intent on impeaching President Trump for allegedly withholding funds to Ukraine.
“The same Democrats whose latest effort to impeach the president hinges on [the] delay of military assistance to Ukraine are themselves going to filibuster funding for the exact same program, the Ukraine security assistance initiatives, really?” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor. “It looks like it. The Democratic Party is too busy impeaching President Trump for supposedly slow-walking assistance to Ukraine to fund the exact same program themselves.”
As the House proceeds with a vote formalizing certain aspects of its impeachment inquiry, the Senate is deliberating on a pair of appropriations packages. A cloture vote on the second of the packages, which includes funding for the Defense and State departments and other foreign operations, is expected for Thursday afternoon.
Existing funding for the government expires next month before the Thanksgiving holiday, with the prospect of a government shutdown fight arriving a month earlier than last year.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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