August 5, 2015

Iran Nuclear Deal Now Looks Almost Certain to Pass

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Yesterday, three Democratic senators announced their support for President Obama’s Iran deal: Tim Kaine of Virginia, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Barbara Boxer of California. Nelson and Kaine were both thought to be part of the pool of possible No votes, so their support changes the voting math in the Senate considerably. Greg Sargent explains:

Take Nelson and Kaine out of that pool, and you’re left with around seven Senate Dems who seem like they could genuinely still vote No. Seven others who are thought to be undecided, or at least who can’t be ruled out as No votes: Harry Reid, Chris Coons, Benjamin Cardin, Joe Manchin, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Tom Carper. If all of them vote No, that’s 14 Senate Dems opposing the deal. Opponents need 13 in order to get 67 Senators to override Obama’s veto of a measure blocking the accord.

So opponents need to basically run the table, getting all but one of those 14 Senators. Carper is now leaning towards the deal. So is Joe Manchin. That is going to be very hard to pull off.

Yep. I never really understood why Republicans agreed to a bill that effectively allowed the Iran deal to pass with the support of only one-third of the Senate, but they did. The result is that it will almost certainly pass, especially now that Obama is starting a serious push for votes. Opponents don’t have much hope left.

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