(The Guardian) Durbin: Republicans stalling on rail strike deal
Senate Democrats say the passage of a bill to avert a national rail strike is in Republicans’ hands, after the House passed legislation yesterday to prevent it.
The chamber needs to also approve the measure to send it to Joe Biden’s desk, and earlier it looked like Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent senator who caucuses with the Democrats, could be the one to derail its fast-track progress.
He wants a guaranteed seven paid sick days for rail workers, while the deal as it stands offers only one.
But on Thursday, Dick Durbin, senator for Illinois and the chamber’s No 2 Democrat, told CNN that it was Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who appeared to be foot dragging on helping to schedule a vote: I talked to [Senate majority leader] Chuck Schumer this morning about it and he’s still waiting for a sign from Senator McConnell that he’s ready for us to call this measure. It takes bipartisanship to get to the measure, it takes bipartisanship to pass. So we can’t do it without help from the Republicans. The Democrats stand ready to back the president.
Senate Democrats say the passage of a bill to avert a national rail strike is in Republicans’ hands, after the House passed legislation yesterday to prevent it.
The chamber needs to also approve the measure to send it to Joe Biden’s desk, and earlier it looked like Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent senator who caucuses with the Democrats, could be the one to derail its fast-track progress.
He wants a guaranteed seven paid sick days for rail workers, while the deal as it stands offers only one.
But on Thursday, Dick Durbin, senator for Illinois and the chamber’s No 2 Democrat, told CNN that it was Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who appeared to be foot dragging on helping to schedule a vote: I talked to [Senate majority leader] Chuck Schumer this morning about it and he’s still waiting for a sign from Senator McConnell that he’s ready for us to call this measure. It takes bipartisanship to get to the measure, it takes bipartisanship to pass. So we can’t do it without help from the Republicans. The Democrats stand ready to back the president.
