The White House convinced a Republican senator to block his own Chinese sanctions bill

Kevin Cramer.
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Getty Images)

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) may have been the co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill to punish China for attempting to curtail Hong Kong's autonomy, but that didn't stop him from objecting to the bill's passage by unanimous consent last week at the White House's request, Politico reports.

The bill sought to place mandatory sanctions on China, which is on the cusp of passing its own national security law that could have serious consequences for Hong Kong's citizens. Cramer said the Trump administration asked him to consider blocking it 30 minutes before Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked for unanimous consent so the White House and State Department could propose "technical" corrections.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.