Durbin: Sanders Shouldn’t Push $2,000 Checks ‘at the Expense’ of the Defense Department

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) disagreed with the push by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block the vote on the veto override for the National Defense Authorization Act unless there is a vote on $2,000 direct payments.

Durbin stated, “I don’t want to use this defense bill, for the national security and for the men and women in uniform as part of this strategy. It is going to pass. I can tell you, knowing the Senate rules as I do, it is going to pass. Let’s put the pressure on Sen. McConnell to call the measure that passed the House for 2,000 bucks. It got a bipartisan roll call there. I think it’s got enough votes to pass here. We’ll never know until we try. So, I’d say to Bernie, I’m with you on the goal of $2,000. Let’s not do it at the expense of the Department of Defense.”

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