The vote raises the stakes in Congress' brewing confrontation with Trump over the Chinese company, which lawmakers of both parties consider a national security threat to U.S. networks.





In a sign of the broad backing for the effort, Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marco Rubio of Florida as well as Democrats like Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts pushed for the ZTE ban to be included in the defense bill.





The White House has been scrambling to avert a showdown on the issue, dispatching Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to Capitol Hill last week and warning that any congressional action on ZTE should respect “the separation of powers.”





Trump will meet Wednesday with some Republicans on ZTE, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told POLITICO, although he didn’t say how many lawmakers would attend and whether the group would include any Democrats.





“I think the president wants to weigh in, and we want to listen to what he has to say,” Cornyn said, adding that “obviously there’s conflict" between the administration and Congress on the issue.











