Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) teed up a second procedural vote on a resolution of disapproval for the Iran nuclear deal minutes after Democrats filibustered the first one.
The Republican leader filed cloture Thursday for a second time on a resolution of disapproval, setting up a vote for Tuesday evening.
{mosads}McConnell’s move came immediately after Democrats blocked the resolution of disapproval from overcoming a key procedural hurdle by depriving him of the needed 60 votes to move forward.
The Kentucky Republican slammed Democrats, saying they are blocking “the American people from even having a real vote on one of the most consequential foreign policy issues of our age.”
“It’s telling that Democrats would go to such extreme lengths to prevent President Obama from even having to consider legislation on this issue,” he said. “If the president is so proud of this deal, then he shouldn’t be afraid. He should wield his veto pen with pride and explain his rationale to the American people.”
Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) dismissed McConnell’s tactics, pledging that Democrats will block the Iran resolution again next week.
“It is time we move on to something else. This matter is over,” he said. “You can continue to relitigate it, but it’s going to have the same result.”
Asked if he is worried Democrats will switch their votes next week after potentially facing pressure back in their homestates this weekend, he told reporters “it would be a dumb thing for someone to do, and I have a bunch of smart senators.”
McConnell, who expects Democrats to come out with their own anti-Iran proposals, said the Senate won’t take up legislation unless it has enough support to overcome a presidential veto.
“We’ll have a raft of new bash-Iran proposals introduced by friends on the other side,” he said. “[But] we’re not interested in using floor time for…efforts on the other side to try to try to fool their constituents into thinking ‘oh, I really, really was serious about Iran in spite of the fact that I voted for the Iran deal that you hate.'”
Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) have introduced legislation to extend the Iran Sanctions Act, which expires next year. While Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, suggested that the legislation could pass earlier this year, only Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has backed the proposal.
Republicans had been widely expected to keep the focus on Iran next week.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said earlier Thursday that “there’s going to be a number of additional votes next week.”