Ted Cruz sponsored a bill to re-impose sanctions on the Nord Stream pipeline between Russia and Germany. Biden lifted the sanctions in May.
55 senators supported the bill, but Senate Democrats used a filibuster to prevent a vote, even though Biden and Democratic leaders have been campaigning against the filibuster as undemocratic and racist.
In 2017, when Senate Democrats were in the minority under President Trump, 32 of them signed a letter urging that the filibuster be maintained on the ground that it is necessary to safeguard “the existing rights and prerogatives of Senators to engage in full, robust, and extended debate as we consider legislation before this body in the future." Fast forward four years, when the Democrats have a 50-50 majority in the Senate with the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President, and now that very same filibuster has been transformed by them from a sacred guardian of minoritarian rights into the tell-tale sign of white nationalism and fascist contempt for democratic values.
Why all the talk about sanctions and war with Russia and then do nothing to stop this gas pipeline? The pipeline bypasses Ukraine by going under the Baltic Sea directly between St. Petersburg and northeastern Germany.
Are Biden and the Democrat leadership really in Putin’s pocket?
My suspicion is that the US military-surveillance complex struck a deal with Putin. The US will allow the Nord Stream pipeline to move forward, and in return Putin will coordinate to create a pretext for more CIA and miltary spending in Ukraine.
Germany and Russia benefit from the pipeline. The US military-surveillance state benefits from more spending. More dollars flow to Ukraine to make up for the loss of pipeline revenue.
Meanwhile American taxpayers are left with the bill, but they don’t matter.
Good grief, that is ridiculous. That bill would have driven a wedge between us and Germany which would have also effected our relationships with other Europe countries. And right now we need the European countries to be on our side against Putin and his moves against Ukraine.
The pipeline is big reason why Putin is free to move against Ukraine.
Germany has shot itself in the foot with its own loony energy policies. Now they are even more dependent on expensive and unreliable Russian natural gas.
The older pipelines go through Ukraine. Europe is also importing LNG from the US.
Russia has successfully used anti-fracking groups to prevent development of natural gas supplies in Europe. Germany has been shutting down nuke and coal plants in the name of protecting the environment, while dumping billions of euros into unreliable wind and solar generation.
I thought requiring 60 votes for cloture is an undemocratic racist relic of Jim Crow. Why didn’t Democrats allow a vote if filibusters are as evil as they claim?
Any bill that cleared the Senate would have to pass in the House and survive a Biden veto.
that is by far the stupidest read i’ve seen. germany is the only eu country that wanted the pipeline un the first place, the eu itself supported trumps position, ehich given the current situation in ukraine was obviously right
