Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) told Democratic senators Saturday that he will force the clerks to read the 1,000-page Republican megabill on the Senate floor once Republicans vote to proceed to the legislation, a procedural act of defiance that will take an estimated 12 hours and delay final passage of President Trump’s agenda by half a day at least.
Schumer told his caucus to prepare to force a full reading of the bill, according to a Democratic source familiar with the internal discussion over floor strategy.
The question is whether Senate GOP leaders will force the clerks to read the bill late into Saturday night and early Sunday morning to complete the time-and energy-consuming task or whether staff will get some time to sleep before the Senate is expected to launch into a multi-hour series of votes known as a vote-a-rama.Â
Senate Republicans were anticipating that Schumer might force a reading of the bill as an act of protest.Â
This is a developing story.
