Democratic leaders said Tuesday the energy and water spending bill, delayed for weeks by their rejection of an Iran-related amendment, will be passed by next week.
Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., cheered the agreement between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Tom Cotton to remove the amendment from the appropriations bill if a vote to close debate on the funding package fails Wednesday. Democrats have blocked debate from closing over Cotton’s proposal to keep the Department of Energy from buying more heavy water from Iran.
“We’re going to vote on it,” Durbin said. “We’ll vote on it tomorrow, [Cotton’s amendment] will be gone and we’ll be ready to pass the bill.
“We can get it done by next Monday.”
The energy and water appropriations bill is the first spending bill the Senate has taken up this year. It was expected to be the easiest one to pass.
However, Cotton introduced his amendment after the Energy Department announced it would buy heavy water from Iran. Heavy water is a non-radioactive component used in the making of radioactive materials in nuclear energy and nuclear bombs.
The amendment would keep the department from buying more heavy water but would not prevent the announced purchase. Democrats consider it a “poison pill” amendment and have refused to allow the spending bill to move to a vote.
On Monday, McConnell filed a cloture vote on Cotton’s amendment, and that vote is expected to come Wednesday. If it fails, Cotton has agreed to withdraw the amendment and consider it as a standalone measure.
McConnell blamed Democrats for causing the appropriations process to drag.
“The energy and water bill has been snagged up because they’re apoplectic, totally apoplectic over having to cast a vote with regards to the post-Iran agreement environment,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said his caucus is ready to move past the bill and get on with the rest of the process.
“It’s time we finished this bill,” he said. “The energy and water appropriations bill is an important bill for the country, and I think we should finish it.”
Durbin said the Republican leadership should have stopped the Arkansan senator from introducing the amendment in the first place.
He said leadership needed to tell Cotton that introducing the amendment was a poor choice and it could have been considered at a different time.
“They didn’t even ask him to do that,” he said. “They said, ‘Do you want to slow down this bill for a few weeks? Be my guest.'”
