“I suspect we’ll get there,” the Georgia Republican said. “Once you have a conference report ... you can afford to lose 60 people on either side.”
Senate Democrats had been waiting to see whether House Republicans could clear the package before responding to the agreement or providing Members of their own caucus with details of the deal.
Top Democrats did discuss it during their weekly chairmen’s lunch, and many aides expect at least some backlash during an afternoon meeting of the full caucus today. They also are concerned that if an agreement is reached, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) could block any unanimous consent agreement that would be needed to vote on the package by Friday, the Senate Democratic aide said.
Paul has delayed consideration of the Senate transportation bill and the confirmation of a judge in an effort to get a vote on his proposal to cut off aid to Egypt until Americans being held there are released. Paul wants to use the roughly $1.3 billion a year the United States provides to Egypt in aid as an incentive for the Egyptian authorities to release the Americans.
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