With U.S. President Barack Obama securing the backing of more senators for the Iran deal, the prospect of a humiliating legislative rebuke seems to be lessening. A resolution against the nuclear deal, which would mean a rejection of an important aspect of Obama's foreign policy goal, seemed imminent over the past few months.
But, with 15 Senate Democrats, including Senate minority leader Harry Reid and Michigan's Debbie Stabenow, backing the Iran deal might get approval.
The "imminent threat of Iran having a nuclear weapon" outweighs any flaws in the international agreement, said Stabenow of Michigan, the 28th Senate Democrat to back the deal, reports KSL.com.
Though a "no" vote would not cancel the whole nuclear agreement, due to Obama's veto power, such a vote could indicate a troubled future.
The White House has been working to avoid such a situation.
"Our goal all along has been to build as much support in Congress as we possibly can. What we have been focused on is building the kind of support that we need in both the House (of Representatives) and the Senate to sustain a presidential veto," said spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday, reports The Frontier Post.
To date, just two Democrats publicly opposed to the deal, while a half dozen still remain undeclared.
This has led to frantic lobbying with those in favor of the deal working hard to avoid the veto.
"A majority in the House for the resolution of disapproval is probably certain. It is an open question whether opponents of the deal will be able to muster the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to advance the measure." said Corey Boles, a senior analyst with the Eurasia Group, according to the Digital Journal.
The White House needs 41 votes to forestall the resolution, and just 34 Senate votes to uphold Obama's veto.
"Forty-one is definitely possible. A number of important swing votes have broken our way. The opposition still needs to find four more Democrats to cross lines. If I were them I would be sweating now," said Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council, which has been lobbying fiercely in favor of the agreement, reports the Space War.
