The Senate's No. 3 Republican said Sunday the upper chamber would pass a "veto-proof" bill to slap sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 election and aggression in Ukraine and Syria.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. John Thune of South Dakota urged President Donald Trump to sign the bill because it's in his "best interest."
"This is a bill that will go to the president's desk and he should sign it into law," he declared, despite pushback from the administration because the legislation would limit its ability to lift sanctions.
"I think [it] will pass probably overwhelmingly again in the Senate and with a veto-proof majority," he said. "So the president would — I think it's in his best interest for a lot of reasons to sign it, and I believe he will."
Thune said though he supported a vote this week "to open the debate" on an unpopular House healthcare bill, he refused to predict if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would offer an amendment to simply repeal Obamacare altogether.
"The leader will make that decision at some point about whether that's repeal, repeal and replace. I hope it's repeal and replace," he said. "But … you can't have a debate about either unless we get on the bill. So we need a 'yes' vote. That's the only way to change the status quo."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.