The following will happen in September: (1) A bill will pass both the House and Senate, making certain President Obama can not lift sanctions against Iran and (2) President Obama will veto this bill. Then, all eyes will be on the over-ride of the veto. I am hoping this vote fails and the Democrats in the Senate stand by the deal.
Defector #1 is Senator Schumer. He will vote against the deal. If he pulls enough Democrats along with him, the deal fails.
Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s GPS program, and Washington Post Opinion writer, provides a good point by point rebuttal:
I am sure few people have read and understood the deal better than either Senator Schumer or Fareed Zakaria. A lot of people think we give Iran billions of dollars, just so we can have inspections of their facilities. As Zakaria points out, this is just not true. The first step is a massive de-activation by Iran at two sites: Fordow nuclear facility and the Akar reactor.
If this is true, wouldn’t Israel be overjoyed, at seeing these initial steps? Part of Netanyahu’s lobbying efforts with Republicans is strictly political. Anything that appears to reduce the threat of Iran to Israel, is a threat to military aid to Israel. See the most recent news story:
Is Iran a threat to Israel? New signs military is at odds with Netanyahu.
The Democrats need 34 votes to block the over-ride, and it looks like they are now up to only 20 committed votes right now. All eyes are on Harry Reid.
Stay tuned.
David Lord