Michael Cloud

Senate Democrats continue to show they'd rather see "the nation fail" than President Donald Trump "succeed," Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Thursday.

Cloud, appearing on "Wake Up America" with co-hosts Marc Lotter and Charly Arnolt, criticized Senate Democrats after they helped block several Republican-backed measures before lawmakers left Washington ahead of the midterm elections.

Among them was the Ratepayer Protection Act, designed to prevent households and small businesses from being saddled with infrastructure costs associated with power-hungry data centers.

The measure passed the House 417-3 but failed to advance in the Senate on Wednesday, 57-43, short of the 60 votes required. Four Democrats supported advancing it.

Democrats opposing the legislation argued it was too weak because it would have states consider standards rather than impose mandatory federal requirements.

"This had overwhelming bipartisan support in the House, gets to the Senate and gets stalled," Cloud said. "It's tragic that this is happening.

"These are like 80-20 issues," he added. "These aren't controversial issues."

Cloud accused Democrats of repeatedly putting partisan considerations ahead of legislation that Republicans say would benefit Americans.

"It's really what we've seen time and time again where Democrats would rather the nation fail than Trump succeed or this administration succeed or Republicans in the House succeed and get good things done," Cloud said.

Democrats also united Wednesday against advancing the Stop Insider Trading Act after Republicans paired restrictions on congressional stock trading with voter identification requirements.

That measure failed 53-47, with all Senate Democrats voting against advancing it.

The legislation would prohibit lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from buying individual stocks while requiring advance disclosure of intended sales.

Democrats argued the stock restrictions were insufficient and opposed the voter ID provisions, which they said could restrict mail voting.

Cloud rejected Democrat objections to voter ID, arguing Americans broadly want stronger election safeguards.

"The only place that voter ID is controversial is in the U.S. Senate," Cloud said. "Americans across the party spectrum want to see this done. They want secure elections."

Cloud also said Congress needs stricter rules governing lawmakers' financial transactions so voters can be confident elected officials are acting in the public interest.

"Americans want to see a Congress where they know you're making decisions not based on how it's going to benefit you, but how it's going to benefit the American people," Cloud said.

The Texas Republican called both proposals broadly popular issues that have become bogged down by partisan divisions in the Senate.

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