[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14022-14023]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.J. RES. 61

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture vote on the substitute amendment 
to H.J. Res. 61 occur at 3 p.m. today, with the time until 3:45 p.m. 
equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.
  Mr. REID addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the majority leader clarify the time of 
the vote?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I withdraw that consent and propound 
another one.
  I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture 
vote on the substitute amendment to H.J. Res. 61 occur at 3:45 p.m. 
today, with the time until 3:45 p.m. equally divided between the two 
leaders or their designees.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I have a few 
brief remarks, and then I will respond to my friend.
  By the end of the day, the Senate will have spent 3 days debating one 
of the most critical national security issues of our time--and that is 
probably an understatement--whether to support the agreement to stop 
Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
  From the beginning of this process, Democrats have done everything 
within our power to support this debate. We allowed the Senate to begin 
important debate without any procedural hurdles--none whatsoever. 
Democrats understand the severity of the urgent national security issue 
that is before this body, and that is why we offered a consent 
agreement at the beginning of the week to eliminate all procedural 
hurdles and move straight to the final passage vote after the debate. I 
did that again this morning, but the Republican leader did not take 
that offer. Instead, he filed cloture on the 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 once again will put 
forward my consent to skip cloture and all procedural votes and move to 
a vote on final passage.
  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. It is simply untrue.
  Let's be clear. Let's be clear who is moving to end debate. It is the 
Republican leader who is moving to end debate, not me, not us. It is 
the Republican leader who filed a procedural motion last night and 
today.
  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 
60-vote threshold on policy and national security issues--for example, 
on national security issues such as Iraq policy resolutions; the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA; United States-India 
nuclear cooperation; foreign aid prohibition for Pakistan, Egypt, 
Libya; FISA reauthorization; terrorism risk insurance, or TRIA. These 
are just a few of the many votes we have taken at the 60-vote threshold 
demanded by our Republican friends.

[[Page 14023]]

  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 would then become the defining vote that 
determines whether the resolution of disapproval moves forward to the 
President's desk. A vote against cloture is a vote for the Iran 
agreement, plain and simple.
  Mr. President, may I have the consent agreement restated? I think I 
understand it, but basically we would have a cloture vote and move 
immediately to a vote? No, just a cloture vote. I am sorry.
  The question before the body--and they are waiting for me to 
respond--is, we would have a cloture vote on this matter because the 
leader has objected to my consent request, and we would have it at 3:45 
p.m. today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is the Chair's understanding.
  Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Please wait. Staff is conferring here.
  No objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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