Senate Democrats on Thursday successfully blocked a measure meant to kill President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, dealing a decisive defeat to Republicans’ attempts to derail the controversial agreement and ensuring its survival.
With a 58-42 vote, Democrats filibustered the disapproval resolution that Republicans and other deal opponents had tried to send to Obama's desk, where it would have been vetoed. But with more than enough support from Democrats to sustain that veto, the fight largely turned to the minutiae of Senate procedure and the suspense of whether Democrats would halt the bill from reaching the White House altogether.
Republicans immediately branded Democrats as obstructionist for using the Senate's supermajority requirement to kill the disapproval resolution. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to set up a do-over for next week, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the result will be the same.
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