McConnell threatens to bring Israel amendment into Iran debate
“My strong preference is for Democrats to simply allow an up-or-down vote on the president’s Iran deal,” he added. “But if they’re determined to make that impossible, then at the very least we should be able to provide some protection to Israel and long-overdue relief to Americans who’ve languished in Iranian custody for years.”
McConnell’s move could put Democrats in a tough spot.
A push by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to force a vote on requiring Iran to publicly recognize Israel effectively shut down the debate over the review bill earlier this year.
Separate amendments calling for Iran to release three Americans currently held in the country were also never allowed to come up for a vote. Democrats warned that the amendments were “poison pills” designed to kill the nuclear agreement.
Democrats have argued that it’s time for the Senate to move on to other issues, including how to fund the government. But McConnell warned that the debate “will continue. This is an issue with a very, very long shelf life.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ripped Republicans ahead of the vote, reiterating his offer to allow the Senate to skip to final passage of the resolution as long as the threshold is set at 60 votes.
“It is hard for me to comprehend how my Republican colleagues, with a straight face, can talk about let’s have an up-or-down vote on this,” he added. “We agreed to allow Republicans to have an up-or-down vote.”
McConnell has been under pressure from conservatives in the House, as well as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), to take a more aggressive approach to stopping the Iran agreement.
House Republicans wanted him to use the “nuclear option,” while Cruz—who is running for president—wanted him to say that the congressional review period for the Iran deal hasn’t started because the administration didn’t hand over “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
— This story was updated at 6:48 p.m.
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