On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted along party lines 50-48 to pass an agreement to raise the federal debt limit by $480 billion through December 3. The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will now consider the measure.
To get that vote, a group of Republican Senators joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to reach a 60-vote threshold to invoke cloture, 61-38.
Alabama’s two U.S. Senators were split on the cloture motion, with U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) supporting it and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) opposing it.
Shelby joined fellow Republicans Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), John Barrasso (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) to support McConnell.
GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Katie Britt, who once served as Shelby’s chief of staff, said she would have voted against invoking closure had she had the opportunity to vote as a U.S. Senator. She cited former President Donald Trump’s opposition to the deal and argued Republicans should not have helped Democrats in their spending pushes.
“I agree with President Trump,” Britt said in a statement. “The ball was totally in Democrats’ court to raise the debt ceiling themselves, and Republicans should have made them own the issue instead of bailing them out. Democrats are currently trying to change the fabric of our nation and pass their disastrous $3.5 trillion spending boondoggle without a single GOP vote. If Democrats want to continue recklessly adding to our national debt at an unprecedented rate, Republicans should not help them raise the debt ceiling. As Alabama’s next U.S Senator, I will never back down when fighting to protect our Christian conservative values and to save the country we know and love.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
