Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellFEC flags McConnell campaign over suspected accounting errors Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he will not bring up a free-standing bill to push back on President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE’s trade agenda, but that GOP senators might be able to add it as an amendment to other legislation.

Support among Republicans has grown for legislation backed by Sens. Bob Corker Robert (Bob) Phillips CorkerHas Congress captured Russia policy? Tennessee primary battle turns nasty for Republicans Cheney clashes with Trump MORE (R-Tenn.) and Pat Toomey Patrick (Pat) Joseph ToomeyAppeals court rules NSA's bulk phone data collection illegal Dunford withdraws from consideration to chair coronavirus oversight panel GOP senators push for quick, partial reopening of economy MORE (R-Pa.) that would give Congress power to authorize or reject any new tariffs imposed because of national security concerns.

GOP senators say McConnell doesn’t want to risk a confrontation with the president but also wants to be responsive to the concerns of colleagues who think Trump’s trade agenda has run amok.

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“What I’m in favor of is getting bills passed that we have to do for the country. NDAA is certainly one of them but it is open to amendment and we’ll see what happens as it moves across the floor,” he said, referring to the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passes every year and is considered a must-pass bill.

He noted that the Senate also has to pass the farm bill — a package of agriculture subsidies — as well as appropriations bills.

McConnell ruled out the possibility of bringing up the Corker-Toomey proposal as a stand-alone measure.

“Items as contentious as that’s likely to be, we’ll see. But I’m not going to call it up free-standing,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that Corker and Toomey could attach their proposal to the defense bill.

“NDAA is going to be open, we’ll see what amendments are offered,” he said, indicating that he will allow amendments to the defense measure.