Update II:
Today’s declarations of support for the Iran nuclear agreement by New Jersey Democrat Sen. Cory Booker and Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota bring the count of Senators backing the deal up to 37.
The Wall Street Journal — not a Liberal rag:
Mr. Booker’s support for the deal is a blow to Senate Republicans who need at least four more Democrats to vote with them if they want to pass a resolution disapproving the deal this month. Mr. Booker’s backing of the accord makes it more likely that the Democrats will be able to block the resolution on a procedural vote.
Democrats are getting closer to the number “41.”
Read more here.
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Update :
With Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s declaration that the Iran nuclear agreement is the best way to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Democrats in the U.S. Senate now have the needed 34 votes to sustain a presidential veto of what is expected to be a Congressional resolution of disapproval of the deal, thereby assuring the President “Obama a major foreign policy victory,” according to the Washington Post.
Original post:
With the announcements that Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) have decided to support the Iran nuclear deal, “President Obama is [now] within one vote of securing the biggest diplomatic victory of his presidency,” so reports the Washington Post.
Coons revealed his decision in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post while Casey stated his decision in a memo to the Philadelphia Enquirer.
From the Post’s Paul Kane:
Coons’s decision… delivered a powerful blow to opponents of the plan because the Delaware Democrat had previously voiced some of the deepest skepticism about the controversial deal…
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Coons reached his decision after many weeks of deliberation that included long talks with top administration officials — including his political mentor, Vice President Biden — and an exchange of letters with President Obama that codified the assurances he received about the pact’s implementation.
Meanwhile at The Philadelphia Enquirer, on Casey’s decision:
“This agreement will substantially constrain the Iranian nuclear program for its duration, and compared with all realistic alternatives, it is the best option available to us at this time,” Casey wrote in a 17-page, more than 8,000 word analysis he shared with The Inquirer. He called it “one of the most difficult decisions of my public career.”
Obama needs only one more Senator to sustain what is expected to be his veto of a resolution of disapproval by the House and Senate — a “threshold” the Post believes Obama should “have no problem reaching.”
But, the Post adds, there is a growing possibility that if 41 Senators support the Iran deal, “they could band together and filibuster the resolution, preventing the president from having to issue a veto.”
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