[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6477-S6478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DEADLINES IN THE SENATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday my friend, the chairman of the 
Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Corker of Tennessee, said: ``I 
recognize, and have all along, that it takes 60 Senators to advance 
legislation and get to a final vote on a bill or resolution.'' No 
equivocation, no dancing around the issue--the chairman of the Foreign 
Relations Committee established what we have known all along: It takes 
60 votes.
  His counterpart, Senator Cardin of Maryland, also agrees that 60 
votes was always the intention. One Senator at the hearings voted no on 
the resolution because he didn't want it to be 60 votes. Everybody else 
voted for that. Forty-seven Republican Senators sent a letter to the 
Ayatollah, explaining to them how the Senate works. In that letter, all 
47 Republican Senators acknowledged that it takes three-fifths votes to 
get things done here in the Senate.
  So that is over and done with. The resolution before us will take 60 
votes to pass. The direct quote from Senator Corker that I read is in 
black and white. There aren't any words of mine; those are his words. 
That is a direct quote from the chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee.
  So that is what we have. Republicans have clearly conceded that it 
takes 60 votes to advance a resolution of disapproval.
  Filibusters stop debate. We are willing to have all the debate the 
Republicans want--2 hours, 2 days, whatever they want. It has to be 
completed by next Thursday. That is the only deadline that I can see.
  The good news is that Senate Democrats, of course, on this side of 
the aisle, continue to propose that following ample debate, the Senate 
then proceed directly to a vote on final passage. Of course, it would 
have a 60-vote threshold, as the chairman of the committee said 
yesterday. There would be no need for any other procedural votes. We 
would just do that. There is no need for the Republican leader to 
continue wasting the Senate's time--and it is precious.
  Look at what we have this week. There is basically one more 
legislative day this week. Next week, we have two days, Monday and 
Tuesday, which are long-time celebrations by the entire Congress of a 
Jewish holiday. We have the deadline of September 17 for this matter 
dealing with Iran to be completed, as far as Senate floor action. 
Staring us in the face at the end of the

[[Page S6478]]

month is that government funding will be gone. We have to do something 
about that. And we know, as we have heard all the threats by Republican 
Senators, that we are not going to fund the government unless something 
is done with Planned Parenthood. Those things take time. We have to get 
to that. Every day we waste here on the floor, trying to figure out 
what the Republicans want to do, is time that we should be spending on 
how we are going to fund the government.
  There is no question that the Republican leader now has a very real 
and important decision to make. We have a lot of work to do this month. 
We can't afford to waste time with unnecessary procedural votes.
  We also have some things we have to be involved in here that are 
going to slow up what we do. We have the President of China coming 
toward the end of the month. We have the Pope coming. We expect as many 
as 500,000 people here on both sides of the Capitol during the short 
time the Pope is here on Capitol Hill.
  We have so many things to do. We need to have a path forward, as I 
mentioned already, to keep the Federal Government from shutting down 
because of a lack of funding. We need to figure out a way to keep our 
highway trust fund solvent, which it is not now. We need to do 
something about cyber security, and we need to consider important tax 
extenders legislation, as well as how to avoid default on the debt 
limit. They are all going to converge at about the same time.
  Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans have very real deadlines that 
we must meet. We can't meet them because of the procedure in the Senate 
unless the Republican leader allows us to have some time on the floor. 
What we don't have is time to waste on Republican-contrived procedural 
fights that have no basis in fact or reality. It is time for 
Republicans to abandon their plans to slow down a vote on final passage 
of the Iran nuclear agreement resolution of disapproval and move on to 
other matters.
  Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.

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