Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been working overtime trying to sway 'the crazies' on Capitol Hill who have not yet pledged their support for the Obama administration's nuclear agreement with Iran. This August, Pelosi has been laser focused on securing Democratic support for the deal, holding full caucus conference calls and sending emails each time a Democrat announces their support, according to The Hill. She is recruiting other legislators in this effort and following up incessantly:
Pelosi last month also assembled a team of “at least a dozen” other Democrats to help her to make calls through the break, according to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who is among that group.
“I'm talking to the leader almost daily on this,” Schakowsky said Monday by phone.
The whip team, Schawkowsky said, is ‘targeting’ Democrats and urging them to make swift announcements.
“Making an early announcement means that large target on their back will be off,” Schakowsky said.
Meanwhile, Republicans are working on a disapproval measure, which would ultimately halt the deal by preventing the president from waiving Iran sanctions. Should the resolution pass, Obama said he would use his veto power.
In total, the Minority Leader needs 146 of the 188 House Democrats on board.
Over in the Senate, two Democrats have come out in opposition to the deal: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Schumer called the deal “troubling” and Menendez defiantly proclaimed that if Iran is to acquire a nuclear bomb under this agreement, it would “not have his name on it.”
Pelosi’s support for the deal is unsurprising. Back in March, the Minority Leader declared she was “near tears” as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Congress to reject a nuclear deal with Iran. Such rhetoric, she claimed, threatened the U.S.-Israel relationship. She was, at the time, “saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran and our broader commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation."
Pelosi’ obsessive cheerleading of the Iran deal also comes in the midst of low public approval ratings. Even in liberal New York City, polls are clear: Americans don’t want Obama to sign on the dotted line.
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