Tuesday: Iran debate, nominations

by Jordain Carney - 09/08/15 9:56 AM ET

The Senate returns from a five-week August recess on Tuesday and will begin debate on the Iran nuclear deal.

Senators are expected to convene at 2 p.m. After leader remarks, Republicans are expected to offer a resolution of disapproval on the Iran deal as an amendment to a House-passed shell bill.

{mosads}With 38 backers of the Iran deal currently, President Obama has enough support in the Senate to uphold a presidential veto. But with a handful of Democrats remaining on the fence, he’s still three votes shy of the 41 he’ll need to block the resolution of disapproval from passing initially.

Over the weekend, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made an offer to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on the agreement, saying that Democrats would allow the Senate to skip over procedural votes and go directly to final passage, but only if Republicans would require a higher threshold for passage.

“Democrats would be happy to proceed straight to a final passage vote that is consistent with Senator McConnell’s many statements that important matters in the Senate have ‘for quite some time required sixty votes,’ ” Reid said in a statement.

Senators will also vote on Roseann Ketchmark to be U.S. district judge for the Western District of Missouri at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the House will convene at 2 p.m. and take up five pieces of legislation under suspension of the rules.

Votes aren’t expected until 6:30 p.m. on the bills, which include proposals to reauthorize funding for hearing tests for newborns, as well as allowing manufactories to display warranty information online.

Tags Harry Reid Mitch McConnell