Bob Casey campaigning with Barack Obama in 2007.
In a heavily footnoted, 8,000-word statement, Sen. Bob Casey, the Pennyslvania Democrat,
announced Tuesday that he will support the Iran nuclear agreement. At an event at the University of Delaware's Institute for Global Studies in Newark, another Democrat, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware,
also voiced his support.
With their backing, the number of Senate Democrats who favor the multinational pact with Iran has risen to 33, just one short of the 34 needed to sustain a veto of any Republican-initiated resolution disapproving the agreement.
The White House has lately been seeking the votes of 41 Democratic and independent senators so that a filibuster would keep any such resolution from reaching the president's desk to his veto in the first place. The odds of that are slim, but a lot less so than even a week ago. Two Democratic senators oppose the agreement, and 11 remain undeclared.
Four Five members of the House also declared Tuesday that they favor the nuclear agreement: Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.); Rep. Bobby Rush (Ill.); Adam Smith (Wash.); Mike Quigley (Ill.); and Elijah Cummings of Maryland. So far, 87 88 Democrats in the House have declared support for the agreement, 13 are leaning in that direction, 14 have declared opposition, two are leaning that way and 72 remain undeclared.
Sen. Casey said he is "skeptical" that Iran will comply with everything in the agreement.
To assuage those worries, he urged Obama and future presidents to use more explicit threats of force to deter Iran from attempting to acquire a nuclear weapon.
"We must be prepared to take military action - today, tomorrow, 15 years from now," if Iran takes that step, Casey wrote. "The Iranian regime should not doubt our capability and willingness to respond swiftly."
In a soon-to-be-published interview with
The Washington Post, Coons said: "We are better off trying diplomacy first."
Below the fold is more analysis and the whip counts of members of the House and Senate who have yet to declare their stance on the agreement.
Join us in urging undeclared senators to support the Iran nuclear agreement.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows the majority of Americans want Congress to approve the nuclear agreement with Iran. They are divided along partisan lines, though nowhere near as sharply as their delegates in Congress, where not a single Republican has so far declared support for the agreement:
A survey by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation finds that Americans narrowly support the deal, with 52 percent wanting Congress to approve it and 47 percent wanting the pact rejected. [...]
Democrats and Republicans are polar opposites in their view of the accord, which would lift international sanctions against the Islamic republic in exchange for Iran restricting its nuclear program so it cannot build nuclear weapons for a decade or longer. Nearly 7 in 10 Democrats support the deal. An identical share of Republicans are opposed. Among independents, 6 in 10 express support.
Only one senator, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, is counted by The Hill in its
whip count as "leaning yes."
Here are the 10 Democrats who have not yet declared how they stand or which way they are leaning:
Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
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. Mark Warner (Va.)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
Seven Eight more House Democrats declared themselves in favor of the nuclear deal Monday and Tuesday, bringing the total in support to 87 88, according to a whip count by The Hill.
No new House Democrats have declared themselves in opposition to the agreement.
Here is the list of 13 representatives said to be "leaning yes":
Rep. Terri Sewell (Ala.)
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (Calif.)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
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. Bobby Scott (Va.)
Rep. Derek Kilmer (Wash.); Rep. Rick Larsen (Wash.); Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.)
And here are the 71 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. Tony Cardenas (Calif.); Rep. Judy Chu (Calif.); Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.); Rep. Janice Hahn (Calif.); Rep. Jared Huffman (Calif.); Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.); Rep. Grace Napolitano (Calif.); Rep. Raul Ruiz (Calif.); Rep. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.); and 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. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.); Rep. Frederica Wilson (Fla.).
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii); Rep. Mark Takai (Hawaii)
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.); Rep. Bill Foster (Ill.); Rep. Daniel Lipinski (Ill.)
Rep. Pete Visclosky (Ind.)
Rep. Dave Loebsack (Iowa)
Rep. Cedric Richmond (La.)
Rep. John Delaney (Md.); Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.); Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger (Md.); Rep. John Sarbanes (Md.)
Rep. Bill Keating (Mass.); Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.)
Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.)
Rep. Lacy Clay (Mo.)
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (N.H.)
Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.)
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.); Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (N.M.)
Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.); Rep. Brian Higgins (N.Y.); Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.); Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.); Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.).
Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.)
Rep. Alma Adams (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. 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.)
Fourteen House Democrats have declared themselves opposed to the agreement and two are leaning no—Alan Grayson (Fla.) and Brad Ashford (Neb.)