European leaders to US Congress: We’re confident in Iran deal

Senate Democrats have secured 42 votes in support of the deal, one more than needed to block a disapproval vote in the Senate.

On Wednesday, Republican leaders pulled a resolution from the House floor that would have disapproved of the Iran nuclear accord after conservatives said it would do nothing to stop it since it would not survive a presidential veto.

The first vote will be a House resolution of disapproval that President Obama did not submit all of the necessary documents to Congress concerning the deal. However, enough Democrats are in support so that even if a vote for disapproval came up, they could block it by filibuster.

The message was far different at the Capitol rally headlined by GOP presidential candidates Trump and Cruz denouncing the accord, which Republicans say will not stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

“The deal we have is worse than anything I could have ever imagined”, the Ohio Republican said.

A House procedural vote set for Wednesday afternoon was delayed as Republican leaders sought an agreement to move forward. But he voted with the majority of his party in blocking such a vote Thursday, siding with Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has advocated for voting on the resolution with a 60-vote threshold.

The House voted strictly along party lines to clear the way for debate on Thursday on three bills, none of which will have a direct impact on the nuclear pact.

In the end, opponents of the Iran deal could not recruit enough Democrats to join Schumer in disapproving of the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

The dissident House Republicans insist they aren’t bound by the September 17 deadline to pass a resolution to scuttle the deal because Obama hasn’t provided details of side agreements between Iran and a global arms-inspection agency.

“That is an option that is very possible“, Boehner told reporters Thursday. Intrigue is swirling around the Corker-Cardin bill, the predicate for Congress’s review of the Iran deal.

“This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security, and for the safety and security of the world“, Obama said in a written statement.

A Pew Research Center poll found that as Congress prepares to vote on the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by the United States, Iran and other nations, public support for it has fallen from earlier this summer.

The crowd outside the Capitol booed lustily as speakers mentioned House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.