Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday the upper chamber will move forward on an Iran deal quickly.
The Kentucky Republican filed cloture, which ends debate on the matter and no member will be able to vote on any more amendments.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio offered up two amendments that Cotton requested a on vote on last week. The move split members within the GOP. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake called the two amendments “poison pills” while Maine Sen. Susan Collins told NBC News the action would end the amendment process all together.
Rubio’s amendment to the bill required that Iran must recognize Israel’s right to exist, while Cotton’s amendment would not roll back sanctions on Iran until it gave up its nuclear facility and revealed the information about the military infrastructure of its nuclear program, among other conditions.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz told reporters he agreed with their amendments.
“In the midst of these negotiations, a senior Iranian general said the annihilation of Israel was ‘non-negotiable,’” Cruz told reporters.
“One cannot negotiate with theocratic zealots who are explicit in their desire to murder you. There is no common ground or middle ground on whether or not you are murdered. In the midst of these negotiations the ayatollah Khomeini is chanting ‘death to America,’” he said, noting that he was disappointed Democrats blocked amendments to the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Harry defended the legislation. He told reporters, “The delicate compromise that came out of that Foreign Relations Committee is really a fine piece of work. It’s historic what was done by that committee–19 to nothing.”
Reid also boasted about the predicament McConnell seems to find himself in, saying, “You don’t see that happen very often and we brought that to the floor and tried to cooperate as much as we could until we realized that every amendment that the Republicans offered was to denigrate and hurt and destroy that bill. We are not going to do that. Senator McConnell has the ability to get the bill adopted and it’s up to him to do it. We’re not going to do it for him.”