The last — and certain to be bloodiest — round in the battle over the Iran nuclear deal is about to start.
Lawmakers returning to Washington today from their summer recess are plunging immediately into bitter, partisan debate over the accord. And Democrats may be angling to completely stop a vote on the deal from happening.
Republicans who control the House and Senate strongly oppose the pact, saying it makes dangerous concessions to Iran, particularly when it comes to inspecting potential nuclear sites. They hope to push through a resolution of disapproval this week.
If they succeed, President Barack Obama would veto the resolution, and Democrats have already lined up enough votes to uphold his veto.
The question as Congress reconvenes today from a five-week break is whether the disapproval resolution will get through the Senate — or whether Democrats will have the support to completely block a vote on the resolution by using a filibuster.
That’s not yet certain. Democrats are three votes shy of the 41 they would need to mount a filibuster. Five senators have yet to announce their position, including several who might end up opposing the Iran deal.
Leaders of the pro-Israel lobby have been pushing hard against the deal they say could empower Iran, and have succeeded in winning over three prominent Senate Democrats — Chuck Schumer of New York, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Iran is currently assessed to be only 2 to 3 months away from being able to enrich enough uranium for a bomb, if it decides to do so.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Next election let’s choose a Natural Born Citizen to be POTUS. The current usurper has brought destruction to our Constitutional Republic that I fear may never be set right again and Congress has become his pregnant consort.
right on
All of this HOOP-LA about birthers many years ago we had a person I believe he was V.P. at the time everyone wanted him to run for President [ he was born in England ] that was probably 50/60 years ago he could not with all of the technology we have now why is the question of President Obama’s birthplace even an issue that all should have been settled before he became president the first time . The place a baby is born should have NOTHING to do with whether he/she can become President of the U.S. but the life he has led up until that time have a large bearing on that fact.