“We fervently hope that both President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu will take concrete steps, transcending politics, to fix the rifts that impede this relationship between longstanding and essential allies”.
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But Democrats and Republicans have predicted that his expected veto will be sustained – that opponents lack the votes to one-up Obama.
Gillibrand said if the U.S. steps away from the deal, hardliners in Iran will say the U.S. was never honest and may reject additional negotiations.
The announcement by Menendez, the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came Tuesday during a speech at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
Thanks to legislation Menendez helped draft earlier this year, lawmakers are set to vote in September on a resolution of disapproval on the Iran deal.
Cohen’s decision, announced in a statement released by his office, comes just two days after U.S. Sen.
Iran’s parliament announced Wednesday the final composition of a 15-member panel largely composed of conservative lawmakers to review the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.
“I’m concerned the redlines we drew have turned into green lights; that Iran will be required only to limit rather than eliminate its nuclear program, while the worldwide community will be required to lift the sanctions, and that it doesn’t provide for anytime-any-place inspections of suspected sites”, he said in a statement last month. While the most recent attempt to ramp up sanctions initially garnered wide bipartisan support, Democrats gradually fell off the bill, arguing that the administration should be given space to follow through on talks.
To uphold the veto, Obama would need 34 senators to support the deal.
From his vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard, Obama has been lobbying the undecided.
“In fact, I have supported President Obama, according to Congressional Quarterly, 98 percent of the time in 2013 and 2014″.
His criticism of the deal with Iran has escalated for months, but he didn’t formally declare his opposition until Monday in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
But the deal has picked up scattered support from Republicans outside of Congress, including former Sen. “I have raised this issue repeatedly as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and I will continue to do so until we see action”. He pointed out that throughout Obama’s term in office he has mainly backed the Democratic president, voting for Wall Street and healthcare reforms and other major initiatives. Joe Lieberman, who is helping marshal opposition, said in an interview Tuesday.
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“He can win by getting one-third plus one of either house”, McConnell told a local chamber of commerce, The Associated Press reported.
