Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) long-awaited decision on whether he will support the president’s nuclear deal with Iran came in the late hourson Thursday just as the GOP debate was beginning.
After “deep study” Schumer announced he “must oppose the agreement and vote yes on a motion of disapproval.”
Schumer, the third ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, has long been seen as a cheerleader for Barack Obama’s policies, which makes this decision a political thorn in the side of the White House.
Many analysts have predicted that this eventuality may clear the way for Schumer’s colleagues in the Democrat caucus to join him in opposing the nuclear deal.
If that additional opposition materializes, the GOP will have more than enough votes to push through a vote to reject the deal.
Should the president exercise his veto as expected, however, the challenge for Senate Republican leaders will be a steep hill toward mustering enough votes to override the veto, an unlikely prospect.
Nevertheless, that the president is already notably at odds with the leaders of his own party in Congress and with a supermajority of the American people adds stumbling blocks to the Democrat presidential candidates who are already being forced to choose between voter sentiments and their president’s policies.
