While you were grilling your Labor Day weekend away, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., sought to put out a fresh fire on the right over the Iran nuclear deal by blasting an email to supporters. It begins:
"Make no mistake: I oppose President Obama's dangerous nuclear deal with Iran and will vote against this bad deal when we consider it in the U.S. Senate next week."
Oh those pesky Washington insiders. Why would they get the impression that Perdue favored the deal?
Let's take a trip back to April, when the Senate was voting on amendments to a bill allowing Congress to review the then-pending deal.
Perdue voted against an amendment that would have required a certification that Iran has not supported an act of terrorism against Americans anywhere in the world, before any sanctions could be lifted. Perdue opposed the amendment because its approval could have caused Obama to veto the bill, leaving no process in place for Congress to review and vote on the nuclear deal.
Conservative radio host Mark Levin took offense, and said in April of the eight Republicans that sided with Democrats "you cannot even vote in defense of your own country."
Peach Pundit diagrams why Team Perdue had to respond again:
With the Senate poised to return to Washington later this week, the amendment vote was brought up again in a post on Joe the Plumber's blog, joeforamerica.com. And that post likely brought up the social media storm that caused Sen. Perdue's campaign to email supporters and post on Facebook his support for the Review Act and his opposition to the Iran deal.
The Senate will get moving on a motion of disapproval for the Iran deal this week, with the big question being whether Democrats can summon the 41 votes to filibuster. (Obama already has enough support to sustain a veto, if necessary.)
But Iran could come up again in the increasingly complex government shutdown fight, on top of the disputes over Planned Parenthood and military spending. Writing in Forbes, former congressional budget staffer and analyst Stan Collender upgrades the shutdown odds to 67 percent:
That's not to say this proposed language will survive, but the process will further slow down a debate on the CR that already was pushing against the time limit.
Even more important is that an effort to stop the Iran deal in the CR will provide a second take-no-prisoners issue that will further intensify the politics for many Republicans. When combined with the expected efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, it will add significant highly emotional fuel to the partisan fire and make a government shutdown far more politically palatable.
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Sen. Johnny Isakson swung by Dobbins Air Reserve Base on Friday to declare confidence that the military installation would be able to avoid another round of cuts to military spending.
The Republican's comments come amid fears that Georgia bases will be in the crosshairs after the Pentagon announced it would reduce as many as 4,350 soldiers from the state's military bases.
Isakson clarified he was not blaming the armed forces; rather, many of the cutbacks were a result of congressional sequestration, or automatic spending cuts.
"We need to stop cutting across the board and start cutting where we got the fat, not the military," he said. "... You can't cut across the board, you've got to prioritize and make them where you can least hurt your national defense."
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Take note of this snippet from the AJC's front-page today about General Electric scouting Atlanta for a potential corporate relocation:
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed participated in Georgia's pitch over the summer. State officials expect a GE delegation to visit metro Atlanta this fall, according to one person with knowledge of the matter.
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Rejoice, one and all, as Congress is back from its summer recess today with a hefty to-do list. There's a vote on the Iran deal and negotiations on funding the government, with a shutdown due at month's end.
And then there's a possible vote to remove John Boehner as speaker. You may recall the putsch being put into motion in July, dubbed by Coweta County Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland as "the stupidest political move I have ever seen." Today Politico quotes Westmoreland as a Boehner ally talking about how this could, finally, be the end for the speaker:
"That's a personal decision he has to make. I don't know why he would want to, personally," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), when asked whether Boehner would run again. "But I do think that he feels, in his heart of hearts, he feels like he's doing what's best for this country — regardless of what the political consequences are. That says something about somebody."
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Supporters of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, are rallying today outside the jail where she is being held. The rally will be headlined by presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee -- who was profiled in the AJC's print and premium editions over the long weekend.
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, also lent his voice back Davis. His statement:
"Holding Kim Davis in contempt of Court will not deter those who strive to uphold their faith. Defending religious liberty and the First Amendment should be grounds for applause, not grounds for arrest. I will continue to fight for all citizens to retain their ability to practice their faith freely, as our founding fathers intended. "
Hice has endorsed Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz for president, and Cruz has also joined the pro-Davis chorus.
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How's about some Twitter speculation, logo edition. Peach Pundit picked up this observation from Georgia GOP consultant Jacob Hawkins about a new logo for Jack Kingston.
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