Senate defies shutdown gridlock to pass annual defense bill

Senate defies shutdown gridlock to pass annual defense bill


In a rare note of bipartisanship that defied shutdown drama, the Senate passed its annual defense bill Thursday after a voting marathon that became a referendum on Donald Trump’s authority as president.

It took weeks and a series of symbolic concessions to Democrats to jump-start the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy priorities for the Pentagon and authorizes its spending.

GOP leadership agreed to let the Senate vote on Trump’s National Guard deployments to blue cities and the Qatari jet he wants retrofitted as his new Air Force One, putting Republicans on the record over some of the most politically explosive decisions of his second term.

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The amendments, each of which was defeated on Thursday evening, created a divisive spectacle out of one of the

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