Matthew Boyle and Ashley Oliver 27 May 2021
A bill with broad bipartisan support that was supposed to sail through the U.S. Senate instead divided the upper chamber severely late Thursday night as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) forced senators to take long procedural votes late into the evening.
The bill, called the Endless Frontier Act, is meant as a U.S. counter to the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda and would fund research institutions in America to the tune of more than $100 billion.
Thursday’s late-night voting delay also prolonged the highly anticipated vote on the House-passed January 6 commission bill, which was slated to happen right after the vote on the Endless Frontier Act.
As the clock approached midnight on Thursday, Johnson led other Senate Republicans in raising objections to proceeding with a final vote on the Endless Frontier Act. Johnson, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) each argued the Senate was not given time to review amendments to the bill. Johnson and Scott requested the vote be delayed, but Commerce Committee chair Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) denied their requests.
Several Capitol Hill reporters from various outlets narrated the spiraling chain of events on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/1398106920171589633more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/27/chuck-schumer-loses-control-dysfunctional-senate-spirals/
