The Wall Street Journal reports that as the Iran deal looks increasingly impossible for Republicans to defeat, they’re thinking of new ways to undermine it after it goes into effect:
As their chances dim, they are preparing to push a rash of new legislation for the fall to increase sanctions on Tehran for its role in supporting terrorist organizations and militant groups active across the Mideast, which could cause Iran to back out of the deal. These politicians also are devising new ways to target the finances of Tehran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
….The fresh sanctions push has the potential to put the White House and leading Democrats, such as the party’s presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, in a quandary. Those supporters of the deal could later face a tough decision over whether to back increased sanctions against Iran.
It’s possible that Republicans can scrounge up enough Democratic support to overcome a filibuster and force an Obama veto on some of these measures. But I assume they don’t really care about that. Obama’s coming up on his last year in office and probably doesn’t care much if he has to veto a few bills. Rather, as the Journal suggests, this is just normal election-year game-playing. Republicans want to introduce bills that will force Hillary Clinton to take a stand that will hurt her no matter how she responds. Oppose the sanctions and she’s a Hezbollah lover. Support the sanctions and she’s an AIPAC stooge.
There’s nothing very original about this. Both parties do it whenever they can, and if Hillary Clinton is even a half-decent politician she’ll be able to maneuver her way through without any big problems. As long as Republicans don’t threaten to shut down the government over this, it probably won’t be a very big deal.
