Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., says he will join 13 other colleagues in forcing Senate clerks to read aloud the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on the Senate floor.
"No one's seen the bill," Lankford told Wednesday's "Spicer & Co." on Newsmax TV. "The scoring is not done from CBO or another group called joint tax. We have no score from them.
"It has gone through radical changes on the Senate side," he continued, adding, "no one has seen the bill on either side of the aisle and no score so we're all just waiting."
"They wanted to drop a text that no one has seen on either side of the aisle, begin debate, and amend it immediately, and try to get it passed before anyone can see it," Lankford said. "We're slowing it down – thanks to [Sen.] Ron Johnson – to be able to go through the process and say, 'Let's get this some daylight and see if that will have some effect.'"
Johnson on Wednesday told colleagues he plans to force clerks to read the bill aloud, which could slow it down by as much as 10 hours.
"I'm told it's going to be more like 10 [hours]" Senate Republican Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said. "It's going to occur at the beginning, so it would be before the clocks starts so it doesn't go against the 20 hours; it's on top of the 20."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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