Unnamed sources told AFP that Democrats who were signed up for more sanctions against Iran have now “privately recoiled from a damaging vote against their own president.”
According to AFP, “several Democrat Senators who previously backed a bi-partisan sanctions bill stepped back after Obama threatened a veto during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.”
With the Democrats changing position, the bill is quickly losing momentum, and the once-imminent vote on new sanctions is imminent no more.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said: “I am strongly supporting the bill but I think a vote is unnecessary right now as long as there’s visible and meaningful progress [in the negotiations].” At a post-State of the Union event, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) said, “Now is not the time for a vote on an Iran sanctions bill.”
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he lent support to the new sanctions bill not so it could be brought up for a vote, but so Obama could use it as “a hammer” in negotiations.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.