The unfinished nuclear reactor at Arak must be reconfigured to comply with the Iran nuclear agreement.
Shocking, I'm sure you'll agree, is the news that Republicans are using the Iran nuclear agreement to paint Democrats as weak on defense. That, of course, has been a steady theme since the GOP's "Who lost China?" campaign after Mao Zedong and the communists won the civil war in 1949. Even during the height of the Vietnam War, when hundreds of Americans and thousands of Vietnamese were being killed every week, with a Democratic Congress and Democratic president in office, some Republicans claimed the Democrats were weak on defense. Why, some Republicans asked, weren't we dropping nukes on North Vietnam?
It's rare indeed, writes Burgess Everett, when foreign policy drives congressional races. But the Iran agreement is:
Republicans are trying to portray Democrats backing the deal as weak on Israel and national defense. And some Democratic hopefuls are going after opponents for not taking a stand.
Nowhere has the issue been more prominent than in Pennsylvania, where GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is one of the most ardent critics of the agreement and former Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, who served in the Navy for three decades, became a surprising early supporter for the deal. Meanwhile, Sestak’s primary opponent, Katie McGinty, a former chief of staff to the Pennsylvania governor who is a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination, hasn’t taken a position. [...]
On the Republicans’ hit list are four current or potential Democratic candidates for Senate: McGinty, Rep. Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Gov. Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire, who is undecided on a Senate bid. On Monday, Republicans turned their focus toward Cortez Masto following news that retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is backing the Iran agreement.
Not a single Republican has so far expressed support for the agreement, but neither has a single one of them—including those not in the bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran crowd—produced a reasonable alternative.
Perhaps this is simple desperation. It's increasingly clear that Republicans will not be able to get a resolution of disapproval of the agreement past a presidential veto and perhaps not past a Senate filibuster. Senate Democrats need just 34 votes to sustain a veto and they are edging ever closer to that number. There is some hope among the Democratic leadership that Republicans won't even be able to get the 60 votes they need to avoid a Democratic filibuster. Moreover, the chances of a successful override in the House has receded from slim to extremely slim.
So, the thought process is, no doubt, that dragging out the hoary claim that Democrats are "chicken" may intimidate enough of those who say they are still undecided to improve those chances. Whether that works or not is anybody's guess. But the weakness theme has certainly worked in the past. So much, in fact, that every Democratic president except Jimmy Carter has appointed a Republican as secretary of defense for at least part of his time in office.
Below the fold, you can see which Democrats in the Senate and House you need to push to support the agreement.
Sixty-nine House Democrats have declared themselves in favor of the nuclear deal, according to a whip count by The Hill.
Here is the list of 13 representatives said to be leaning yes:
Rep. Terri Sewell (Ala.)
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (Calif.)
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (Colo.)
Rep. Robin Kelly (Ill.)
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.)
Rep. Bill Pascrell (N.J.)
Rep. Chaka Fattah (Pa.)
Rep. Joaquín Castro (Texas); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas)
Rep. Derek Kilmer (Wash.); Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.)
Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.)
Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.)
And here are the 90 who are undecided or whose positions are unclear:
Rep. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.); Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.); Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)
Rep. Peter Aguilar (Calif.); Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.); Rep. Ami Bera (Calif.); Rep. Julia Brownley (Calif.); Rep. Tony Cardenas (Calif.); Rep. Judy Chu (Calif.); Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.); Rep. Susan Davis (Calif.); Rep. Janice Hahn (Calif.); Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.); Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.); Rep. Grace Napolitano (Calif.); Rep. Scott Peters (Calif.); Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (Calif.); Rep. Raul Ruiz (Calif.); Rep. Linda Sánchez (Calif.); Rep. Norma Torres (Calif.)
Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.); Rep. Jared Polis (Colo.)
Rep. John Carney (Del.)
Rep. Corrine Brown (Fla.); Rep. Kathy Castor (Fla.); Rep. Lois Frankel (Fla.); Rep. Gwen Graham (Fla.); Rep. Patrick Murphy (Fla.); Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.); Rep. Frederica Wilson (Fla.).
Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii); Rep. Mark Takai (Hawaii)
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.); Rep. Bill Foster (Ill.); Rep. Daniel Lipinski (Ill.); Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.); Rep. Bobby Rush (Ill.)
Rep. Pete Visclosky (Ind.)
Rep. Dave Loebsack (Iowa)
Rep. Cedric Richmond (La.)
Rep. Chellie Pingree (Maine)
Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.); Rep. John Delaney (Md.); Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.); Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger (Md.); Rep. John Sarbanes (Md.)
Rep. Bill Keating (Mass.); Rep. Joseph Kennedy (Mass.); Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.)
Rep. Lacy Clay (Mo.)
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (N.H.)
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.); Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.)
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.); Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (N.M.)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (N.Y.); Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.); Rep. Brian Higgins (N.Y.); Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.); Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.); Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.); Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.); Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.); Rep. Jose Serrano (N.Y.); Rep. Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.)
Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.)
Rep. Alma Adams (N.C.); Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.)
Rep. Joyce Beatty (Ohio); Rep. Marcia Fudge (Ohio); Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio); Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.); Rep. Kurt Schrader (Ore.)
Rep. Robert Brady (Pa.); Rep. Matthew Cartwright (Pa.); Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.)
Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.); Rep. Jim Langevin (R.I.)
Rep. Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas); Rep. Al Green (Texas); Rep. Gene Green (Texas); Rep. Marc Veasey (Texas); Rep. Filemon Vela (Texas)
Rep. Suzan DelBene (Wash.)
Rep. Ron Kind (Wis.)
Thirteen House Democrats have declared themselves opposed to the agreement and three are leaning no—Alan Grayson (Fla.); Brad Ashford (Neb.); and Loretta Sanchez (Calif.).
Here are three Democratic senators who are leaning yes in The Hill's whip count:
Sen. Tom Carper (Del.)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
And here are the 12 who are undecided or whose positions are unclear:
Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
Sen. Chris Coons (Del.)
Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.); Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.)
Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.)
Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.)
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.)
Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (Pa.)
Sen. Mark Warner (Va.)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
Two Democrats—Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.)—have announced they oppose the agreement.