Foreign Policy

Tea-Publicans demand ‘nuclear option’ on Iran nuclear deal

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The Iran Review period expires on September 17, and dead-ender Tea-Publicans will not accept their defeat. Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked another vote on a resolution disapproving of the Iran nuclear deal, reprising the result of a vote last week. Senate Democrats Again Block Vote to Reject Iran Deal.

NukeLast week, Arizona’s angry old man, war monger John McCain (“bomb, bomb. bomb. bomb. bomb Iran“) said Friday he would be willing to look at using the “nuclear option” to advance legislation against the Iran nuclear non-proliferation agreement (irony is lost on him). John McCain Entertains ‘Nuclear Option’ to Reject Iran Deal. Now McNasty has the radicals in the House, who seem to think that they run everything in Washington, demanding the “nuclear option.” House GOP wants McConnell to go nuclear on Iran agreement:

Multiple House Republicans want Senate leaders to “go nuclear” over the Obama administration’s deal with Iran now that Democrats have stymied efforts to derail the accord by conventional means.

A small but growing number of GOP lawmakers say that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should invoke the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and prevent a filibuster on a resolution to kill the deal.

Their angst is intensified by their belief that Democrats will likely be able to block legislation withholding federal funds from Planned Parenthood, a standoff that increases the chances of a government shutdown.

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Justice Department: Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails

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The editors of the New York Times, who have long engaged in the Clinton Rules of  “scandal” mongering reporting, somehow missed this highly relevant piece of information to report this week. The Times was more interested in exacting an act of contrition and apology from Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s Long Road to ‘Sorry’ Over Email Use.

Ruby Cramer at BuzzFeed News reports, Justice Department Lawyers: Clinton Had Authority To Delete Personal Emails:

Hillary-Clinton-textingIn a little noticed brief, filed on Wednesday to a federal court, Department of Justice lawyers outlined a comprehensive defense of the contentious decision by Hillary Clinton to wipe the private email server she used as secretary of state: The attorneys assert that, regardless of whether she used a personal or government account, Clinton was within her legal right to handpick the emails that qualified as federal records — and to delete the ones she deemed personal.

“There is no question that former Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails without agency supervision — she appropriately could have done so even if she were working on a government server,” write the Justice Department attorneys, representing the State Department in the brief.

The lawyers add that under policies issued by the State Department and by NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration, government employees “are permitted and expected to exercise judgment to determine what constitutes a federal record.”

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Mutiny on the Boehner: Iran, Planned Parenthood, then government shutdown

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FreedomWorksPhase one of the Mutiny on the Boehner is now complete.

On Wednesday, the mutinous GOP House Freedom Caucus took Captain Queeg the TanMan hostage and forced him to pull the scheduled vote on the resolution of disapproval of the Iran agreement. They then forced the nominal Weeper of the House to accede to their hair-brained “Tortilla coast gambit” based on a debunked conspiracy theory about IAEA “secret side deals” with Iran. The GOP House Freedom Caucus ‘Tortilla Coast gambit’ to delay the Iran deal is a fraud.

On Thursday, the House voted on two resolutions claiming that the President had not given them all the information required to be reviewed by Congress under the Iran review law passed by Congress.  Not true: As Max Fischer wrote:

You can read, for yourself, the law that Congress passed articulating its authority to disapprove the Iran deal. Section 135 describes the congressional review period, and specifically articulates the documents that the Obama administration is required to give Congress. There is nothing in there about the text of IAEA safeguards agreements with Iran.

These two resolutions from the GOP’s Gimmicks-R-Us Shoppe were approved on a straight party-line vote without a single Democrat in support. Roll Call Vote 491 243-186 (straight party-line vote); Roll Call Vote 492 245-186 (straight party-line vote). This demonstrates that the TanMan is not in command of his mutinous ship.

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Kyrsten Sinema only AZ Democrat to oppose Iran deal

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This morning the Arizona Republic reported that Arizona’s  Democratic congressional caucus will support the P5+1 world powers nuclear agreement with Iran, with one member still “undecided” (oh, you already know who). Arizona Democrats in Congress to support Iran deal:

SinemaU.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who represents a Tempe swing district, is the only member of the state’s Washington, D.C., delegation who has yet to publicly disclose how she will vote on the divisive foreign policy issue. A Sinema spokeswoman did not return messages Wednesday.

Now remember, on Wednesday the House fell into chaos when the GOP House Freedom Caucus derailed the scheduled vote in the House on the resolution of disapproval of the Iran deal and forced a recess. The hair-brained scheme they came back with is three votes to set up a lawsuit to sue the President on a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that the President did not provide them the IAEA “secret side deals” with Iran, so the 60 day review period never started — because we say so! When you’ve lost in one forum, seek another forum and play on.

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BREAKING: Democrats block disapproval of Iran nuclear agreement

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Iran-nuclear-deal-1024x576The U.S. Senate just finished voting on a cloture motion to advance debate on H.J.Res.61, the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015, the legislative vehicle for the congressional disapproval of the Iran nuclear agreement.

The final vote was 58-42, with four Democrats, Sens. Schumer (NY), Menendez (NJ), Cardin (MD), and Manchin (WV) joining all the Republicans in voting for cloture.  60 votes are needed for cloture, so the motion failed.

This is a major win for the White House and U.S. negotiation partners. Senate rejects attempt to derail Iran deal in victory for Obama:

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a Republican effort to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal, delivering a major victory to the Obama administration.

It has become clear in recent days that the White House can prevent Congress from immediately rejecting the deal, but the successful filibuster of the resolution of disapproval ensures that President Obama won’t have to rely on his veto pen to preserve a major piece of his foreign policy agenda.

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