After weeks of making clear that GOP leaders in Congress would try to block a nuclear deal with Iran by voting on a measure to ‘disapprove’ of the agreement, a group of House Republicans forced a last minute change of plans that ultimately may send a mixed GOP message to voters about the Iran agreement.
The Senate will still try to vote to ‘disapprove’ of the deal, but Democrats are increasingly confident they can filibuster that resolution – which now won’t even be voted on in the House.
Instead, the House will take three different votes this week:
- One plan will declare that President Obama has not turned over all "side agreements" on the Iran nuclear deal, as the GOP will argue that the Iran deal is not yet in effect.
- A second vote will be a straight up-or-down vote on approving the Iran deal (instead of 'disapproval').
- The third measure would prohibit the President from moving to lift any sanctions against Iran.
The House will vote on the first bill on Thursday, and save votes on the other two measures for Friday.
The Senate seems likely to take a cloture vote on Thursday, likely wrapping up the debate in that chamber first.
Cruz, Trump lead D.C. rally against Iran nuke deal
The race for President collided with work in Congress on the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, as Hillary Clinton urged Democrats to stand with President Obama on that agreement, and two leading Republicans rallied with thousands outside the Capitol against the deal.
“We are led by very, very stupid people,” Donald Trump said to cheers from a crowd gathered on the U.S. Capitol grass, as Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took jabs at both President Obama and GOP leaders in the Congress.
“Mitch McConnell and John Boehner can stop this deal,” Cruz told the crowd, which booed lustily at almost every mention of the GOP leadership in the Congress, as various speakers blamed Republican chieftains for not doing enough to stop the Iran agreement.
While Cruz received loud applause, and was the one who invited his GOP rival, it was Trump who clearly drove many people to venture to the U.S. Capitol on a hot and steamy summer day.
“We’re Trump supporters,” said Jim McDonald, who joined with a friend in holding up a giant home made Trump sign.
Trump delighted the crowd with his speech, which after taking issue with the Iran deal veered into more of a general stump speech by the real estate mogul.
“We are going to turn this country around,” Trump declared, before he ventured into the Capitol to meet with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).
Inside the Capitol
Inside the bowels of the Capitol, Trump sat down with Sen. Sessions and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; the GOP front runner then emerged and took questions from reporters:
Trump patted me on the shoulder as he left like I was an old golfing buddy of his; we then trailed him around the corner where broad smiles greeted him as he jumped in an elevator.
I ran up the stairs and caught him for a few more quick questions.
The post-mortem on Trump in the Press Gallery was interesting – my colleagues agreed that Trump was much more accessible than most lawmakers, and he gave off the vibe of just being ‘one of the guys’ in the hallway.
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