Democrats on Thursday blocked a last-ditch effort from Republicans to stop the Iran nuclear deal by linking the agreement to Israel and American prisoners.
Senators voted 53-45 on an amendment from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have prevented President Obama from lifting sanctions on Iran until the country releases American prisoners and publicly recognizes Israel’s right to exist. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.
Under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, Thursday is the final day for Congress to approve a resolution stopping the nuclear deal, though some conservatives dispute that deadline.
With Democrats having held firm in the Senate, it appears the nuclear pact — negotiated by the United States and other world powers — will begin taking effect next month.
While the amendment vote Thursday was intended to be politically tough for Democrats, the 42 Dems who are in favor of the Iran deal voted against the Republican leader’s amendment.
Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who are among a small group of Democrats who oppose the Iran deal, also joined supporters in voting “no.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who also opposes the Iran deal, was the only Democrat to vote for the amendment.
Read more at THE HILL.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
Three of the “American prisoners” are actually Iranian citizens accused of crimes there. Now, Iran is indeed a police state but what about the thousands of other Iranians imprisoned there without due process?
Iran will never recognize Israel’s right to exist so this amendment is the exact same thing as voting “No” on the entire deal. Personally, I think the deal should’ve been voted down for several reasons, but that has nothing to do with this vote – it makes no sense for anyone to vote “Yes” to the deal and “Yes” to this amendment.
the BAD IRAN DEAL is not an Israeli issue – IT IS A WORLDWIDE SECURITY ISSUE THAT NEEDS TO VOTED DOWN – ask Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and all the other moderate Arab nations
This is not only Ironic,but Idiotic
So how would pseudo chachomim like Charlie rationalize supporting the dems? Liberalism more important than Judaism?
I have never claimed to be a chacham.
And no, liberalism is not more important than Judaism. I have called out anti-Semites on the right like Ann Coulter and anti-Semites on the left like Jeremy Corbyn.
But in this case, the Iran deal is nowhere near as bad as its opponents claim. It sets back Iran’s nuclear program by years.
That doesn’t make it a good deal — no deal is a good deal when it gives a sworn enemy of Israel tens of billions of dollars. But it DOES prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state.
Sorry Charlie, the deal does NOT prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. You might as well say that laws that declare murder illegal prevent murders from happening. Its meaningless without proper enforcement. And with 24-day notice prior to inspections, Iran doing its own inspections, no “anytime/anywhere” inspections, the deal is meaningless.