The Senate of the US Congress will vote on Senator Ted Cruz’s GOP bill on sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The voting is expected by January 14, and 60 votes are required to pass the bill.
The Senate made the decision after the parties reached an agreement over Cruz’s support of President Joe Biden’s candidates for a number of posts.
Earlier, Ted Cruz promised to discourage the approval of candidates until the Biden administration imposes restrictions, sanctioned by Congress, on the pipeline.
“At the end of the day, we will demand a ruling on two district judges, approve nine district court judges, approve 41 ambassadors and approve five other members of President Biden’s team,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said, after he held talks with Cruz.
Senate Democrats ultimately agreed to a 60-vote on Cruz’s proposal, so the Republican would need to attract more than 10 Democratic senators to get the bill through the Senate, The Hill reported.
Earlier, President Biden received the US defense budget for the 2022 fiscal year for his signature, which implies spending for $778 billion.
The reason for disagreements on the budget was the proposals of the Republicans regarding Russia. In particular, they advocated an amendment on new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project.
On December 7 – the day before the video summit of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Biden – the House of Representatives adopted the final draft budget.
The final version turned out to be much softer in terms of measures on Russia than expected, as proposals for Nord Stream 2 being also excluded from the document.
Be the first to comment