The head of the Democratic National Committee prevented the party’s consideration of a resolution that backed the nuclear deal with Iran and praised President Barack Obama, multiple Democratic sources revealed to the Washington Post.
At the summer meeting of the DNC held in Minneapolis, Minn., chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., blocked consideration of the resolution drafted with the intention of putting Democrats on record in support of the President’s agreement before Congress returns from its August recess.
Since Wasserman Schultz blocked that plan, James Zogby, co-chair of the Resolutions Committee, went ahead with a back-up and circulated a letter of support for Obama and the Iran agreement, which eventually gained enough signatures to produce a similar result, reports the Washington Post.
“We wanted to show support for the president,” Zogby said. “We found that the best way to show support was a letter that members would sign on to, and the overwhelming majority of DNC members signed onto the letter.”
When Congress returns from its long August recess, it will resume consideration of the president’s agreement with Tehran to freeze Iran’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief. The 60-day review period of the Iran deal ends September 17.
Wasserman Schultz represents a heavily Jewish district in Florida and is Jewish herself, but has yet to declare her position either for or against the agreement. The Jewish state of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has voiced his opposition to the deal and repeatedly said that Iran poses an “existential threat” to Israel.
