President Obama and Senate Democrats have reached the magic number of 41 votes and have the ability to block the Republican resolution of disapproval of the Iran deal in the Senate.
President Obama has clinched the 41 votes he needs to block a resolution disapproving of the Iran nuclear deal, sealing an important political victory over Republicans.
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Three Democrats — Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Gary Peters of Michigan — came out in favor of the deal Tuesday, giving the president the 41 votes he needs to keep the resolution bottled up in the Senate.
A fourth Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced he would join all 54 Republicans and three other Democrats in rejecting the Iran deal and voting in favor of the disapproval resolution.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is the only undecided lawmaker left in the Senate.
Republicans were banking on the resolution of disapproval at least passing in Congress and setting up a veto showdown with the President, but Senate Mitch McConnell could not get the 60 votes that he needed to get the resolution to Obama’s desk.
Momentum has been on the side of President Obama and the Democrats for weeks. Opponents of the nuclear agreement spent tens millions of dollars on television advertising and pressure tactics that were intended to sway Democrats away from supporting the deal.
Every tactic used by the President’s opponents has failed.
No matter what spin Republicans may try to put on it, the fact that they couldn’t get their own resolution out of a Congress that they control is a crushing defeat.
The mainstream press has spent years claiming that President Obama’s power is diminishing, but the strength of his Iran deal demonstrates that this president is only getting stronger as his second term in office moves along.
Republicans have been focused on handing President Obama a defeat on the Iran deal for months. The Netanyahu speech and their letter to the Iranian government both backfired. By trying to humiliate Obama, Congressional Republicans rallied Democrats around their president.
President Obama and the Democrats have won in convincing fashion, as the only people swallowing the taste of bitter humiliation are Senate Republicans.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
