A Democratic minority in the US Senate staved off a united Republican effort to sink the Iran nuclear deal Thursday September 10,2015, handing President Barack Obama a welcome foreign policy victory.
Senators fell two votes shy of the 60 needed to advance a resolution disapproving of the international accord, meaning the legislation aimed at sabotaging the deal is essentially dead.
The Senate voted 58-42, short of a required 60-vote threshold, on whether to end debate on the Iran deal, thus failing to even reach an up-or-down vote on the disapproval resolution itself
Thursday’s vote was the product of an agreement reached by the Senate in May to first undergo a 60-day review period on the accord and then hold a vote that would register either approval or disapproval of the deal.
The vote marked a major victory for US President Barack Obama, after months of intense lobbying by his administration geared at persuading Democrats to stand with the president on a legacy-defining issue
US President Barack Obama praised the outcome in a statement shortly after the vote, hailing what he called a “historic step forward.”
“This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security, and for the safety and security of the world,” the president said. “For nearly two years, we negotiated from a position of strength to reach an agreement that meets our core objectives. Since we concluded these negotiations, we have had the most consequential national security debate since the decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago.”
“Today, I am heartened that so many Senators judged this deal on the merits, and am gratified by the strong support of lawmakers and citizens alike. Going forward, we will turn to the critical work of implementing and verifying this deal so that Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon, while pursuing a foreign policy that leaves our country – and the world – a safer place.”
Republicans, who uniformly oppose the deal, had nothing but scathing words to offer toward the deal.
“I want to be recorded for history’s purposes, if nothing else, to say those of us who oppose this deal understood where it would lead, and we are making a terrible mistake,” Florida senator Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate who has vowed to reverse the deal if elected in 2016, said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote
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