Iran Amendment Stalls Senate's Plans to Pass Spending Bills
- Provision from Republican would block Iran heavy-water deal
- Senate was hoping to advance Energy-Water appropriations bill
Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, listens during an interview in Washington on March 17, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For a brief time this week, the Senate appeared to be ready to shake off its reputation for stalemate by restarting the process of passing regular U.S. government spending bills.
But a dispute over a Republican amendment that would target a portion of the Iran nuclear deal threatened to scuttle the effort to pass a $37.5 billion bill that would fund the Energy Department and several other agencies.