´Ұհ– U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for the first time, joined in a vote Tuesday to consider legislation ending the war in Iran, showing how he is less politically inhibited since failing in his reelection effort.
He joined three other Republicans in a largely symbolic 50-47 vote to discharge from committee a bill asserting congressional war powers authority to end military action against Iran. The action allows the Senate to put the resolution on the Senate calendar for another vote. A vote by the full Senate on passage hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Should the resolution receive 51 votes for passage, the measure would then go to the House. If approved by the House, it would have to be signed by President Donald Trump.
Earlier in the day, Cassidy said he opposes inserting $1 billion to build Trump’s White House ballroom in legislation that the Senate likely will vote on later this week.
“This is a spit-in-the-eye insult to all my taxpayers in Louisiana, to spend a billion on a ballroom when we should be doing something about the high price of gas, groceries, and healthcare,” Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, told local reporters in a Tuesday phone press conference.
He then reminded reporters of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s multiple legal troubles after Trump endorsed him Tuesday over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas GOP primary runoff.
“I have no comments about that at all, except that Paxton, literally speaking, could be prosecuted for crimes,” Cassidy said. “In my mind, that would be disqualifying.”
Cassidy was shouldered out of the Republican Party’s June 27 primary runoff, finishing third Saturday behind U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, and State Treasurer John Fleming, R-Minden. Trump endorsed Letlow, who handily sent the two-term incumbent into retirement.
Since then, Cassidy has tweaked Trump several times.
On Monday, Cassidy criticized Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion fund for conservatives who say they were targeted under Democratic President Joe Biden.
“I don’t actually see any legal precedent for that. We are a nation of laws, you can’t just make up things whole-piece,” Cassidy told reporters Monday in Capitol hallways.
Cassidy told local reporters he’d continue working with the Trump administration until January, when he leaves office, focusing on issues that will help Louisiana and the nation.
"I’m going to do what’s good for my country and my state,” he said.
Ballroom debate
Some Republicans want to include funding for Trump's 9,000-sqaure-foot ballroom in an appropriations bill that won’t need any Democratic support to pass.
Cassidy pointed out that the project is in the beginning stages, with only a “request for information” – the usual first step – only recently released. No final architectural plans or engineering schematics or any other necessary steps have been taken yet, he said.
“The number they picked was just picking it out of the air,” Cassidy said. “By the way, I continue to work on those issues for the next seven months. I hope to succeed, but I will not begin by putting us another billion dollars in debt to spend on a ballroom.”
While Cassidy was speaking to Louisiana reporters, Trump addressed reporters at the scene of the demolished East Wing of the White House, where the ballroom would go.
Trump said the money was requested by the Secret Service for “security adjustments and upgrades.” He added that a ballroom would help future presidents host social events.
“This is really being built for other presidents; it’s not being built for me,” Trump said. “I’m a great builder, and I build beautiful product. There will never be anything like this.”
Last year when he first started talking about the ballroom and bulldozed the East Wing, Trump said the project would cost $100 million. He then upped the estimate to $400 million and promised that the ballroom would be built using private donations and no tax dollars.
Trump supporters in the Senate tried to attach $1 billion for the ballroom in a $70 billion bill to fund the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol until 2030. Democrats have refused since January to approve the appropriations until Congress adopts some guardrails – like not wearing masks and showing identification – as federal agents round up and deport people they think are in the country without proper documentation.
Senate leadership tailored a very narrow “reconciliation” measure that would okay immigration enforcement spending without making concessions to Democrats.
But to end-run Senate filibuster rules, reconciliation requires adherence to a complicated list of regulations followed by a series of successful votes that will require agreement from nearly every Republican senator.
The Senate Parliamentarian over the weekend ruled that the wording to include ballroom funding didn’t conform to the rules that would allow a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the 60 usually required. Republicans hold 53 seats in the upper chamber.
The decision, which is common when trying to impose reconciliation, sent Republicans back to redraft the wording so that the ballroom could be included in the bill.
Cassidy’s loss in the GOP primary sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill about Trump’s power in the Republican Party even as his poll numbers are tanking nationwide.