Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a “Plan B” to halt a nuclear deal that would lift sanctions against Iran.
The measure, which Republican aides said likely would be voted on Thursday, would prevent President Obama from lifting the sanctions until Iran releases four jailed Americans and recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
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McConnell made the announcement as Democrats prepared for a second time to filibuster a resolution of disapproval of the nuclear deal. Soon after McConnell’s remarks, 42 Democrats again filibustered the resolution, preventing it from getting the 60 votes needed to advance.
“My strong preference is for Democrats to simply allow an up-or-down vote on the president’s Iran deal.” McConnell said. “But if they’re determined to make that impossible, then at the very least we should be able to provide some protection to Israel and long-overdue relief to Americans who’ve languished in Iranian custody for years. Either way, this debate will continue.”
Congressional Republicans have been legislatively thwarted in their efforts to stop the deal so far. A 60-day congressional review period ends Thursday.
Democrats have filibustered the disapproval resolution in the Senate, while in the GOP-led House, frustrated Republicans voted instead to defeat an approval resolution, which means no legislation to block the deal will make it to President Obama’s desk.
The House also passed a bill prohibiting Obama from lifting the sanctions, but it was not tied to the American hostages or Iran’s treatment of Israel.
Calls have increased, particularly among Republicans in the House, for McConnell to implement the “nuclear option” in the Senate, which would allow the resolution of disapproval to pass with 51 votes instead of 60.
Proponents of the nuclear option point to polls that suggest most Americans oppose the nuclear deal and want Obama to negotiate better terms.
Sen. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is circulating a letter from House Republicans demanding McConnell make the change. On Tuesday, Sen Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, also called for killing the filibuster.
“This becomes the moment, in my view, in which you can look at what has transpired on the debate on Iran, and reach the conclusion that the 60-vote rule is damaging to the future of our country, because it’s damaging to the ability of the Senate to work the will of the American people and to make decisions that advance a cause different than one’s political party and political philosophy,” Moran said in a Tuesday floor speech.
McConnell has resisted the move and does not plan to make any change, a top aide told the Washington Examiner.
