The Hill is reporting that Senate Democrats held rank Thursday and blocked a resolution disapproving of the Iran nuclear deal, handing President Obama a major political victory. It was only a few months earlier, some Senate opponents of the deal predicted they would be able to muster 67 votes to override a presidential veto.
They fell far short of their goal this week in a 58-42 vote. Sixty votes were necessary to move forward.
Republicans refused to concede defeat, however, and said they would force Democrats to vote on Iran again next week, perhaps on the same bill.
“It will be all Iran next week,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said before the vote.
“There are going to be more votes,” he told reporters. “There will be other opportunities for people to change their mind next week, hopefully after they hear from their constituents.
Forty-two Democrats voted Thursday to filibuster the Republican-led disapproval measure and pave the way for sanctions to be lifted on Iran in the spring of 2016. Fifty-four Republicans and four Democrats voted to proceed.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) framed it as one of the most important foreign policy debates of the past decade and suggested Democrats would pay a political price.
