Member-only story
Who are Senate Democrats ‘trolling’ with their pro-police votes?
The other evening, Cory Booker put on a performance in the Senate chamber. He gave a mocking speech thanking Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville for his amendment to the massive budget bill that would punish cities for defunding their police department with reduced federal money: “[T]his senator has given us the gift that finally, once and for all, we can put to bed this scurrilous accusation that somebody in this great, esteemed body would want to defund the police”
This was all part of a late-night “vote-a-rama” in which Republicans took advantage of the budget reconciliation process to force votes on controversial issues. These are non-binding amendments, so they have no actual effect on policy, but the “vote-a-rama” is used to grandstand for a particular proposal or generate fodder for future attack ads.
In this case, Tuberville’s amendment was only one “aye” shy of unanimous approval. Senate Democrats voted in lockstep for the measure to deny Republicans ammunition in the upcoming midterms.
