Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has given President Obama the final vote necessary to secure victory for his controversial nuclear agreement with Iran. From the AP:
Senate Democrats have rallied the 34 votes they need to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive in Congress, handing President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland became the crucial 34th vote Wednesday morning, declaring the agreement is the best way to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The Obama administration may have had a touch of nervousness in the past few weeks, as a couple of notable Senate Democrats brutally rejected the deal and others were still on the fence. They have also faced continual pressure from Republicans, who plan to vote on a disapproval resolution. Now, however, with 34 votes safely in his pocket, Obama has everything he needs to veto it.
Update: Secretary of State John Kerry defended the Obama administration’s Iran Deal in Philadelphia Wednesday morning, stating the White House enlisted the ‘broadest expertise available’ in drafting Iran Deal.
“The framework we have will get the job done.”
The restrictions to Iran’s nuclear program, Kerry insisted, will last for a lifetime. With this agreement, Iran centrifuges will be reduced and their nuclear stockpile will ‘shrink and shrink some, more,’ he further ensured.
Should Iran disobey the agreement, he said, the IAEA will be given access to uncover the truth and Iranian sanctions will ‘snap back into place.’
Failing to pass the nuclear agreement would be ‘self-destructive,’ Kerry said, weakening America and a producing a more dangerous Middle East.
“The multilateral sanctions regime will start to unravel and our negotiation leverage will diminish if not disappear.”
Acknowledging Israel’s alarm over the US negotiating with Iran, Kerry said that America’s support for her will remain ‘rock solid.’
The agreement, Kerry repeated, is based on ‘truth, not trust.’