Harry Reid confirms Senate Democrats will filibuster Iran nuclear deal

Jerry Gordon.

There he goes again. Senator Democrat minority leader Harry Reid is doing the President’s bidding. He’s launching a filibuster denying an up or down vote on the Iran nuclear deal that Americans by a 2 to 1 majority in leading polls taken urge the Congress to reject. In our NER round up piece put up last night, we noted this comment from Alan Dershowitz in a NewsMax TV interview on the Stan Malzberg Show:
“During the Malzberg interview, Dershowitz criticized the President’s handling of negotiations and treatment of Israel. He drew attention to the likelihood the Senate Democrat minority might filibuster the vote on the Iran deal. With sufficient votes in hand that might stymie a cloture vote thereby preventing an up or down vote on rejection of the Iran deal. Dershowitz said:

As an opponent of the deal, a filibuster would be a good result because it would deny legitimacy to the deal. The American public is not going to accept a deal that was filibustered. Let’s remember what a filibuster is. It was a southern strategy designed to undo democracy and to offend equality.
Dershowitz drew attention to the quandary that Israel and PM Netanyahu would face if the Iran pact was approved:
I know Benjamin Netanyahu. I’ve known him since 1973. He is not going to sit back and allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.”
This deal makes it much harder for Israel to defend its people.”
So what is Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell going to do? Would he obtain a majority rule vote quashing a Democrat filibuster? Or how about getting creative and deferring any action on the JCPOA until the Iranian Parliament votes on the Iran nuclear deal in October? Some have suggested have McConnell bring a Supreme Court case that would allow the Senate to exercise its authority under Article III of the US Constitution for Advise and Consent? Given the Ayatollah’s puppet parliament in Tehran doing his bidding, they might reject the JCPOA creating a quandary for the US and EU 3, eager to do billions of dollars in deals with the corrupt terror supporting regime. Stay tuned to see what avails at the September 9th March to Save America protest rally on the west steps of the US Capitol Building.
The Washington Times – Saturday, September 5, 2015

Democrats will try to mount a filibuster to block the Iran nuclear deal from even having to reach President Obama’s desk for a veto, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid signaled Saturday in a statement.

He and his party colleagues already have enough committed supporters that they would be able to sustain an Obama veto and allow the Iran deal to proceed, but a filibuster would be an even bigger coup, halting the issue earlier in the process and heading off a protracted — and potentially politically costly — veto fight.

“I recently informed Senator McConnell that after a period of robust debate, Democrats would be happy to proceed straight to a final passage vote that is consistent with Senator McConnell’s many statements that important matters in the Senate have ‘for quite some time required 60 votes.’ The choice is up to him,” Mr. Reid said, referencing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.


SEE ALSO: Iran spending billions on terrorists’ salaries: report


A surge of support for Mr. Obama’s stance this week has put Democrats well over the 34 votes needed to guarantee upholding the veto, and they are now within striking distance of the 41 votes that would guarantee a filibuster, too.

The latest count from the Bipartisan Policy Center puts them at 38 supporters — 36 Democrats and two liberal-leaning independents.

Just 33 senators have announced their opposition, and 29 have yet to give an official stance. Most of those are Republicans who are expected to try to defeat the deal, but five remain Democrats remain publicly uncommitted.


SEE ALSO: Cruz, Trump, GiImore, Levin: Rally against Iran nuke deal at U.S. Capitol expands to a mighty show


In his statement, Mr. Reid taunted Mr. McConnell, who led repeated filibusters while Democrats controlled the chamber from 2007 through the end of 2014. Mr. McConnell said big issues required a 60-vote threshold associated with overcoming filibusters.

The Iran debate is slated to begin Tuesday, as Congress returns from a long summer vacation.

Under the terms of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, passed earlier this year, Congress has a chance to look over the deal Mr. Obama and other international leaders signed with the Islamic Republic, designed to halt that country’s apparent march toward nuclear weapons.

The law gives Congress the chance to disapprove of the deal, but that bill then goes to Mr. Obama, who wields a veto. It takes a two-thirds vote of each chamber to override the veto, and if a bill were to get that far, supporters of the deal would face intense pressure from pro-Israeli lobbying groups.

But a filibuster would nip the process earlier, preventing a chance for the lobbying to kick into high gear and avoiding the need for Democrats to cast more politically fraught votes.

September 6, 2015 | 2 Comments »

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  1. It should benefit the insurgent Republican presidential candidates for GOP primary voters to witness Reid cramming the Corker Amendment back down Corker’s throat. Once again, Republican senators have extended the olive branch of bipartisanship, and once again the Democrats have clubbed them over the head with it.

    Not only is it soul-satisfying to see these conniving RINOs publicly disgraced, it reinforces the desperate need to elect an outsider as president. Merely having a President Bush/Kasich/Rubio/Christie will solve nothing, because as the GOP Senate is continuously proving establishment Republicans capitulate even when they are in control.

  2. That sleazy lowlife Harry Reid plays to win.
    Meanwhile, that sleazy lowlife Mitch McConnell plays with himself.
    And so much for the kumbaya bipartisanship of the Corker Amendment.
    The GOP is run by corrupt poltroons who lack the intellectual firepower God gave to trees.