McConnell: Congress will likely not overcome veto on Iran deal

“So he’s still got a great likelihood of success”.

Obama “can win by getting one-third plus one of either house”, McConnell told a business group at an event on Monday in Kentucky, according to the Associated Press.

The comments appear to signal Republican leaders’ reluctant recognition that the math required to override a potential veto of legislation to kill the deal remains slightly out of their grasp.

McConnell said he would be surprised if any Senate Republican supports the deal.

The calculus for critics of the agreement became slightly more favorable on Tuesday, when Sen.

The GOP-led Senate and House are expected to turn down the deal next month. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the heir apparent to the Senate Democratic leader’s chair. McConnell said Schumer’s opposition was helpful.

“We were told if Republicans got the majority in the United States Senate, there would be a bill on the president’s desk to repeal Obamacare”. “We’ll see”.

Opponents were given an additional boost over the weekend, when Sen.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-TN), who has been deeply skeptical of the deal since it was announced in July, declared in an op-ed in The Washington Post that he would vote against it because it doesn’t stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

To reject the agreement, a majority of Congress would need to vote against it, which is likely, and then garner a two-thirds majority to overcome President Obama’s promised veto of the initial rejection. The deal with Tehran and world powers would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

McConnell said he was pleased Flake finally reached the conclusion that the agreement is not in America’s best interests.

The Senate Democrats said Mr. McConnell should schedule negotiations to begin before lawmakers return from their summer recess after Labor Day.

McConnell went on to criticize the JCPOA, claiming that it is a “very flawed deal” in several areas. “It has no impact on all of their other activities. The inspections are flawed”.

“Congress should reject this deal and send it back to the president”, he wrote.