An energy and water appropriations bill is stalled on the Senate floor after Democrats blocked a measure closing debate Wednesday afternoon over a controversial amendment regarding the Iran nuclear deal.
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton filed an amendment to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that would ban the Obama administration from buying heavy water from Iran. The Department of Energy announced last week it intends to buy heavy water, which is a non-radioactive component of making nuclear material for energy and weapons, from the Islamic Republic.
The bill was expected to sail through the Senate, but the amendment was enough for Democrats to block it Wednesday. The Senate voted 50-46 to close debate on the $37.5 billion bill, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the bill is now in “dangerous waters” due to Cotton’s amendment.
“Those dangerous waters are dealing with an agreement that has been controversial, that some of us have strong views on, both pro and con, and the administration does too,” Feinstein told The Washington Examiner. “The administration, I think, is not going to countenance anything that’s going to impact that agreement, and I think that was the reason for the veto threat.”
She added, frustrated, “It doesn’t have to be on this bill.”
Feinstein said negotiations will continue and the plan is to try to get Cotton to remove the amendment from the appropriations bill to be considered as a separate matter.
The failed cloture vote is the first sign of trouble in what had been a relatively smooth appropriations process in the Senate. The energy and water funding bill is the first appropriations bill to come to the floor.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to Twitter to accuse Senate Democrats of obstructing the bill, saying Cotton’s amendment is not pending.
“Our [Democratic] colleagues were great at dysfunction when they were in the … majority & they’re pretty good at it when they’re in the minority,” McConnell tweeted.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., put part of the blame on the Obama administration for announcing the deal to buy hard water from the Iranians late in the week. That forced Cotton to have to wait through the weekend to file his amendment, which caught Democrats off guard.
Alexander called on Democrats to work with Republicans on getting the bill through the Senate.
“I hope we can put our minds together to find a way to let Sen. Cotton make his point,” he said, adding, “Let’s see if we can work it out.”
However, the Democrats are incensed by Cotton’s desire to throw a wrench into what would otherwise be a popular bill.
The $37.5 billion bill contains funding for the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill over “ideological” riders.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted Cotton on the floor of the Senate following the vote and said his amendment showed McConnell doesn’t have control of his caucus.
Schumer said when he was a young senator he would come to party leadership in the Senate and propose his amendments. When the leadership would shoot some down and say that they would hurt the party’s agenda in the Senate, he’d back down. McConnell isn’t doing what needs to be done, he said.
“Obstruction, and the failure to deal with obstruction, is not coming from our side,” he said. “It’s coming from the other side.”
