Reid Statement on floor procedure yesterday (September 8, 2015):
[Page: S6440] GPO’s PDF
“Everything of importance in the Senate requires 60 votes. So passage will require 60 votes. There is no precedent in recent history for an issue of this magnitude getting consideration in the Senate without having to secure 60 votes. This is not about how any one leader manages the floor–this is a precedent stretching back decades. . . . In fact, everyone who voted for it actually voted for the 60-vote threshold. In fact, one Republican Member, the junior Senator from Arkansas, said the reason he didn’t vote for it is because it required a 60-vote threshold.”
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September 08, 2015, 03:33 pm
Cardin: Always needed 60 votes for Iran bill
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/252953-cardin-always-needed-60-votes-for-iran-bill
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), one of four Senate Democrats opposing the Iran deal, suggested Tuesday that senators always knew they would need 60 votes to pass a resolution on the Iran agreement.
“It was clear in talking to the architects of this legislation that they always anticipated there would be a 60-vote threshold for the passage of this resolution in the United States Senate,” he said. “I thought Senator Reid’s suggestion was the right way to go. I hope we can find a way to avoid the procedural battles.”
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KAINE STATEMENT ON IRAN FLOOR PROCEDURE
http://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-statement-on-iran-floor-procedure
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations & Armed Services Committees and co-author of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, released the following statement today on Congress’ upcoming debate and vote on the Iran nuclear deal:
“I was the co-author of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act under which Congress is considering the international agreement to prohibit Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The bipartisan bill – to give Congress a deliberate and constructive review of the final nuclear agreement with Iran – was drafted so that 60 votes would be required in the Senate to pass either a motion of approval or a motion of disapproval. We should follow the procedure that was explicitly discussed and agreed to when we voted on this act, which passed the Senate 98 to 1.”
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Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN): (during debate on Corker-Cardin bill)
http://www.reid.senate.gov/blog/republicans-are-trying-to-change-the-rules-for-the-iran-agreement
“By the way, if we don’t like it, yes, there is a large hurdle in the Senate. We know the way the Senate operates. We have to have a 60 -vote threshold. In the House, it is a simple majority. It is a simple majority in the House.” [Floor Remarks, 4/28/15]
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Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA): (during debate on Corker-Cardin bill)
http://www.reid.senate.gov/blog/republicans-are-trying-to-change-the-rules-for-the-iran-agreement
“Specifically, why I say that is, in the first place, in order to prevent the congressionally authorized sanctions from being waived, we would need to pass a resolution of disapproval. That takes 60 votes in the Senate. So any 41 Senators could prevent that from taking place and then the deal goes forward, the sanctions get lifted. If we have a supermajority, more than 60 , and we could pass this legislation and send to it the President, he could veto it.” [Floor Remarks, 4/28/15]
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Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI): (during debate on Corker-Cardin bill)
http://www.reid.senate.gov/blog/republicans-are-trying-to-change-the-rules-for-the-iran-agreement
“Again, let me say, for a final time, what this bill provides. If passed, sure, we get the information which we should get, regardless, but it sets up a process–a very convoluted process–of votes of disapproval which would require 60 votes in this Chamber to pass. We assume it would be vetoed. Then it would require 67 votes in this Chamber to override the veto and two-thirds of a vote in the House to override that veto.” [Floor Remarks, 4/30/15]
