Dick Durbin: “I was necessarily absent from this evening's vote on cloture on the substitute amendment No. 3801 to the Energy and…”

“I was necessarily absent from this evening's vote on cloture on the substitute amendment No. 3801 to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, H.R. 2028, which was not agreed to. On rollcall vote No. 66, had I been present, I would have voted to oppose cloture. The junior Senator from Arkansas has proposed an amendment which would grind the Senate's appropriations process to a halt while undermining U.S. national security. This amendment is simply another attempt to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, that has verifiably eliminated the threat of Iran's nuclear program to the United States, Israel, and the international community. In fact, the junior Senator from Arkansas attempted to undermine this national security agreement before it was even negotiated by leading a partisan letter to Iran's Supreme Leader, implying that Congress would not honor any potential diplomatic resolution to the conflict. The unprecedented attempt failed. Now that this agreement has been implemented, he is trying to undermine it again by attempting to prohibit the Department of Energy from taking actions which support the deal and remove nuclear-related materials from Iran--actions which, if needed, are important to U.S. national security. As such, I strongly oppose this effort and continue to support the forceful implementation of the JCPOA in order to continue to prevent Iran from ever possessing a nuclear weapon.…”