The House on Friday shot down a resolution approving of the Iran nuclear agreement, and had help from more than two dozen Democrats.
Members rejected the approval resolution in an 162-269 vote. Every Republican save one voted against it (Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted “present”), and Republicans opposed to the deal were joined by 25 Democrats.
Opponents of the Iran agreement will likely point to the vote in the months and years ahead that a sign Congress couldn’t get behind the deal, even though it will take effect regardless of today’s vote. Many Republicans used the debate to warn Democrats that the agreement doesn’t do nearly enough to slow Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon.
“If this deal goes through, President Obama and Democrats in Congress will own the consequences of allowing the Iranian regime to become a nuclear power,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. “We should be embarrassed that as the leader of the free world and the most powerful country on earth, this is the best deal President Obama could negotiate.”
As they’ve argued for weeks now, Republicans said the Iran deal doesn’t do enough to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity, fails to restrain Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region, and doesn’t require anything close to the transparency needed to check Iran’s compliance with commitments to roll back its nuclear program.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, summed it up in the final debate Friday by saying the deal is not even close to what’s needed to win his support.
“Sadly, this deal is far worse than anything I could have imagined,” he said on the floor. “Why? Because the president and his negotiators broke every one of their promises.”
Congress can only stop the deal from taking effect by passing a resolution disapproving it, and Senate Democrats on Thursday filibustered that resolution, leaving Congress out of options for stopping it. On Wednesday, conservative House Republicans thought it was a better idea to shoot down an approval resolution, in large part to make it clear that the deal has no support in Congress.
A vote on approval was also aimed at forcing Democrats to go on the record in supporting an agreement that just one in five Americans support, according to the latest polls.
While Congress has seemingly run out of ways to reject the deal, another option is a lawsuit against Obama. Republicans indicated on Thursday that they might launch a legal challenge that claims the Obama administration failed to deliver Congress all the information it needs to assess the deal.
In the meantime, Republicans made the point that the deal will go forward without any clear support from Congress.
“Never in our history has something with so many consequences for our national security been rammed through with such little support,” he said.
Democrats had few direct answers to Republican complaints about the deal, and instead leaned on the idea that the agreement is the best answer at this point, and that implementing it will keep diplomatic options on the table, and help avert war.
“We firmly believe that the most effective way … to protect U.S. national security and that of our allies and friends is to ensure that the tough-minded diplomacy has a chance to succeed before considering the more costly risks and alternatives,” said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Just after the vote on the resolution, the House passed legislation aimed at preventing Obama from easing sanctions against Iran, another attempt to prevent the deal from taking effect. Members passed that bill 247-186, and just two Democrats joined Republicans to pass it.
But to become law, this bill must first pass the Senate, and Thursday’s filibuster is a strong sign Democrats will prevent this bill from coming up in the Senate.
