“Let’s be clear about who is moving to end debate: it is the Republican leader and he alone who is moving to end debate. It is the Republican Leader who filed a procedural motion last night to end debate.”

“Democrats understand the severity of this urgent national security issue, and that is why we offered a consent agreement at the beginning of this week to eliminate all procedural hurdles and move straight to the final passage vote after debate. But the Republican Leader refused to take that offer. “

“If we are forced to vote on cloture, all Senators should understand that the cloture vote will then become the defining vote that determines whether the resolution of disapproval moves forward to the President’s desk. Vote no on cloture. A vote against cloture is a vote for the Iran agreement – plain and simple.”


Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the upcoming cloture vote on the Iran Nuclear Act:

By the end of the day, the Senate will have spent three days debating one of the most critical national security issues of our time – whether to support the agreement to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. From the very beginning of this process, Democrats have done everything within our power to support this debate. We allowed the Senate to begin this important debate without any of the usual procedural hurdles.

Democrats understand the severity of this urgent national security issue, and that is why we offered a consent agreement at the beginning of this week to eliminate all procedural hurdles and move straight to the final passage vote after debate. But the Republican Leader refused to take that offer. Instead, he has filed cloture to end debate. By rejecting our offer, the Republican Leader has made the cloture vote the decisive and definitive vote on this issue.

That is why I am once again putting forward my consent to skip cloture and all procedural votes and move to a vote on final passage this evening. Every Senator in this body should understand that if they are forced to vote on cloture it is because Senator McConnell, not Democrats, wanted them to. The idea that Democrats are somehow trying to stop debate or keeping us from a final vote is foolish.

Let’s be clear about who is moving to end debate: it is the Republican leader and he alone who is moving to end debate. It is the Republican Leader who filed a procedural motion last night to end debate.

What Democrats are offering is an opportunity to continue debate and move straight to a vote on final passage. This is exactly what we have done on many policy issues in the past because of Republican demands. In fact, since 2007, the Senate has regularly held votes on passage at a sixty-vote threshold on policy and national security matters, such as:
Iraq policy resolutions
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA
US-India Nuclear Cooperation
Foreign Aid Prohibition for Pakistan/Egypt/Libya
FISA Reauthorization
Terrorism Risk Insurance, or TRIA.

Those are just a few of the many, many votes we have taken at a sixty-vote threshold demanded by Republicans.

Actions speak louder than words – Democrats acted to get this bill to the floor and debate it. Democrats are ready to vote on final passage. But if we are forced to vote on cloture, all Senators should understand that the cloture vote will then become the defining vote that determines whether the resolution of disapproval moves forward to the President’s desk. Vote no on cloture. A vote against cloture is a vote for the Iran agreement – plain and simple.