As part of the last-ditch effort to snarl the deal, the House on Thursday adopted a resolution on a vote of 245-186 saying that Obama had not complied with the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
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The result effectively assures that the deal will go into force while sparing Obama the embarrassment of having to use his veto pen against a disapproval resolution.
“This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security and for the safety and security of the world“, President Barack Obama said after the vote Thursday night.
The White House also published a document on the deal, explaining the worldwide community’s role in its implementation.
“I know the president may have already lined up enough support to save his deal”.
And that verdict will be based, above all, on whether the promises and assurances of the deal’s supporters are fulfilled.
The last hope of bipartisan Senate support was dashed on Tuesday when Senator Susan Collins, the chamber’s last undecided Republican, announced her opposition. I voted against the deal. They needed Democrats, and some of them did cross over.
“If the cloture (procedural) vote becomes in effect the opportunity to vote in support of the agreement, I will vote in favor of closing debate“, Blumenthal said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always been the deal’s chief global opponent. Obama did not follow the statutes and is asking Congress to vote and approve a “deal” (not a treaty, according to Obama) that has a “secret component” to it. This also sounds like Obamacare.
“At this critical moment, we should remain resolute in our goal to deny Iran the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon”, Wicker said.
McCaul’s comments come one day after the House voted to reject the deal, which would limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for scaling back sanctions.
In that case, this administration and the ones that follow should make it clear that the military option remains very much on the table.
Many Democrats echoed President Obama’s argument that the administration extracted the best deal possible, one that would sidetrack Iran’s nuclear ambitions for more than a decade and allow global inspectors to gain extraordinary access to Iranian nuclear facilities. This too seems a long-shot, but reflects the Congressional leaders’ determination, after losing the battle on blocking the deal, to keep trying to undermine it. The approval resolution was not intended to pass, but, rather, to send a message that the nuclear accord does not have majority backing in the House.
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A second vote Friday was to prohibit the president from lifting sanctions until January 21, 2017. And most say they expect the economy to be in good shape a year from now (54%).
