McConnell postpones Iran vote

Mitch McConnell is postponing a vote on the Senate’s Iran legislation in the face of an expected Democratic filibuster.

The Senate majority leader has decided to delay a Tuesday vote on legislation that would allow Congress to approve or reject any nuclear agreement that global powers reach to scale back Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He informed the Senate Republican Conference of the decision on Thursday afternoon following Senate Democrats’ decision to vote against advancing the bill before March 24.


“It is clear that Senate Democrats will filibuster their own bill—a bill they rushed to introduce before the White House cut a deal with Iran. So, instead, the Senate will turn next to the anti-human-trafficking legislation while Democrats decide whether or not they believe they and Congress as a whole should be able to review and vote on any deal the President cuts with the leaders of Iran,” said Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell.

In a move that blindsided several of the bipartisan legislation’s supporters, McConnell announced just two hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Tuesday address to Congress that the Senate would speed to a vote on the legislation. But the bill still has not gone through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Democrats, led by the hawkish Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, have accused McConnell of circumventing the process by setting up a floor vote before the bill had been considered in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Menendez led a letter to McConnell on Wednesday signed by eight additional Democratic senators and Independent Angus King accusing the leader of trying to score “partisan political points” by circumventing the committee. One of the letter’s signees, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, dinged McConnell on Thursday afternoon for “injecting politics into the U.S. Israel relationship.”

“The relationship between the United States and Israel is at its strongest when both parties are working in tandem, and those of us that value that relationship are glad that Leader McConnell backed off,” Schumer said.

Though the Democrats’ letter assured that President Barack Obama’s team and fellow negotiating nations have a couple weeks of breathing room to finalize a deal with Iran, it also indicated that that the Iran legislation could eventually garner a veto-proof majority. The Senate may eventually need that supermajority given the White House’s view that any vote on Iran legislation could jeopardize ongoing negotiations.

The Iran legislation written by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) started with six sponsors from the Democratic Caucus, but the Menendez letter indicated four more Democrats may back the legislation.

“The strongest signal we can send to the U.S. negotiators is having a veto proof majority in support of Congress weighing in on any final nuclear deal with Iran,” Corker said. “I greatly appreciate the Majority Leader’s commitment to getting the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act across the finish line by allowing the vote to occur at a time when we will more likely generate a veto proof majority.”

The Senate will vote on a human trafficking bill on Tuesday instead of the Iran bill.