Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Democrat from Maryland, said she will support the Iran nuclear deal, effectively ensuring that the agreement will survive attempts in Congress to overturn it.
Mikulski, who issued her statement on Sept. 2, is the 34th senator to back the July 14 agreement between Iran and the six world powers led by the United States. Her support denies opponents the necessary 67 votes they would require to override President Barack Obama’s pledged veto of any vote to kill the agreement.
“No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,” Mikulski said in a 1,500-word statement enumerating the difficult choices she faced. The length and anguished tone of her statement was typical of many published by Democratic lawmakers announcing their support of the deal.
“I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb,” she said. “For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal. However, Congress must also reaffirm our commitment to the safety and security of Israel.”
Mikulski, who is retiring next year, has been close to her state’s Jewish and pro-Israel communities. She and the junior senator from Maryland, Ben Cardin, also a Democrat, had been prime targets for lobbyists from both sides: Mikulski because of her seniority and her influence as the longest-serving woman in the Congress, Cardin because of his leadership among Jewish Democrats and his senior ranking on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee held a Sept. 1 rally at a synagogue in Pikesville, Maryland, where leaders of the pro-Israel lobby urged activists opposing the deal to flood Cardin and Mikulski with phone calls.
Democrats also appear to have enough deal backers in the House of Representatives to prevent an override of a presidential veto.
Most if not all Republicans oppose the deal, leaving the battleground for opponents and supporters of the deal among Democrats.
The agreement reached between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of major powers exchanges sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged Congress to kill the deal, saying it will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state.
Despite Mikulski’s announcement, which virtually assures passage of the deal, the Orthodox Union announced on Sept. 2 that “a delegation of hundreds of Orthodox Jewish Rabbis and leaders from across the country will descend on Washington [Sept. 9] … and will host a press conference in an effort to defeat the accord,” according to a press release.
It continued: “The press conference just days before Rosh Hashanah, one of the High Holy Days in Judaism, is reminiscent of the historic Rabbi’s March in 1943 – just days before Yom Kippur – in support of American allied action to stop the destruction of European Jewry.” – jta & j. staff
Breakdown of the Senate-vote calculus for passing the deal: