In other words, this amendment prohibits Obama from lifting sanctions period, because Iran will never comply with its two demands. Which is why Obama would veto it if it ever got to his desk and why Harry (G)Reid will filibuster it to death as well. 21% public approval rates of O's "deal" with the mullahs didn't make Senate Donks too squeamish to filibuster the GOP disapproval resolution; why would the fate of the four U.S. Bible-thumpers he's left to rot in Iranian jails be any more likely to move them to at least allow a vote on a bill that has no chance of making it into law? Clearly congressional conservatives are overestimating the PR damage they can do to the Dems by these, admittedly, tried and true tactics.
Or, put another way, their (mostly) predecessors didn't give a rat's ass about fifty-three American hostages in Iran thirty-five years ago; why would today's Jackasses get all worked up over a mere quartet of them? And remember, there will never be any media campaign against them as there always is the Republicans in similar circumstances.
Which is why McConnell using this amendment as grounds for nuking the filibuster - even if he was capable of doing so - would most likely prove a PR disaster for the GOP. [emphasis added]
- Me, yesterday
Again, it wasn't a difficult prognostication to make:
Democrats on Thursday blocked a last-ditch effort from Republicans to stop the Iran nuclear deal by linking the agreement to Israel and American prisoners.
Senators voted 53-45 on an amendment from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that would have prevented President Obama from lifting sanctions on Iran until the country releases American prisoners and publicly recognizes Israel’s right to exist. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.
Under the Congressional Review Act, Thursday is the final day for Congress to approve a resolution stopping the nuclear deal, though some conservatives dispute that deadline.
With Democrats having held firm in the Senate, it appears the nuclear pact — negotiated by the United States and world powers — will begin taking effect next month.
If you're holding out hope that Mitchie The Kid will use this as the pretext for nuking the filibuster, at least on this bill, your hope really does inexplicably spring eternal. If he preemptively rules out government shutdown showdowns, why would he do something even more bold and confrontational? And that, in turn, is what clinched the Dems' filibuster of this amendment, because they know he won't "go nuclear" as well as we should.
In the modified words of John Hackett, "As long as Republicans and Democrats exist Americans cannot live in peace: In the end one or the other will triumph - a funeral dirge will be sung over the Obama-Iran nuclear "deal" or over America itself.
"It has been sung."
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