House Plans 9/11 Iran Vote as GOP Looks to Undermine Nuclear Deal

Presidential Candidates Rail Against Pact, But Can't Block It

While the announcement that 42 senators are now supporting the P5+1 nuclear deal means the Republican leadership has no chance of getting a vote against the deal through Congress, they have indicated that they still intend to hold a vote in the House, tentatively scheduled for 9/11.

Indications are that 11 hours of debate over three days are planned to culminate with this vote, and without the chance of a filibuster, as in the Senate, a resolution condemning the nuclear deal will almost certainly pass, though without the accompanying bill in the Senate, it will be wholly meaningless.

It will, however, set the stage for another round of pushes to undermine the deal, with Republican presidential candidates planning more speeches condemning the pact, and Congressional leaders trying to come up with legislation that might survive a veto that would make it harder for the US to implement its part of the deal.

An anti-deal rally is planned for Wednesday at the capitol building, with AIPAC planning to send 1,000 lobbyists to try to convince Democrats to change their mind and agree to block the deal. AIPAC and other Israel Lobby factions have put tens of millions of dollars into trying to block the deal, and are looking at a big failure.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.