Washington. November 30th. INTERFAX - Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Monday blocked the rapid adoption of the defense budget for the next fiscal year.
According to American media, 45 senators supported the termination of the debate on the defense budget, while 51 opposed it.
Thus, there were not enough 60 votes for further adoption of the bill by a simple majority.
Senator Susan Collins became the only Republican who voted with the Democrats to promote the bill. Meanwhile, along with the Republicans, Democratic Senators Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and independent Senator Bernie Sanders voted "against".
"Republicans have just blocked a bill aimed at supporting our troops, supporting our families, ensuring the safety of Americans. (...) Despite this vote, Democrats will continue to work to ensure that our troops receive salaries and our vital defense programs can continue," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said after the vote.
Earlier, the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, warned that he and his party members would oppose an accelerated review of the military budget with the possible termination of the debate on Monday.
"Despite the strong bipartisan work of our colleagues in the Armed Services Committee, the Democratic leader has been holding the defense budget bill in limbo for months, and now he wants to block the Senate from real debate and the real amendment process," McConnell said.
According to him, "discussing the right way to counter Russian threats to America and our allies," as well as the issue of "arming our friends in Ukraine is worth the Senate's time."
The draft defense budget in the amount of approximately $770 billion includes, among other things, new sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
Republican senators have been trying to achieve powerful sanctions in various ways for several months. Amendments to the defense budget, providing for the introduction of new restrictive measures, were proposed by the deputy head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Jim Risch, as well as Republican Senator from Texas Ted Cruz, who has been fighting against Nord Stream 2 for a long time. Both consider it necessary to force the White House to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG. Their proposal also provides for sanctions against companies involved in the testing and certification process of the gas pipeline.
