Senate Democrats Refuse to Make Iran Deal Conditional On Return of US Hostages and Recognition of Israel

On September 17, 2015, the Senate voted 53 to 45 to deny - for the third time - an up or down vote relating to the Iran deal.

Without 60 Senators, cloture was denied along with the vote.

This time the vote was technically an amendment which would have denied the President the ability to waive or lift sanctions on Iran unless it released Jason Rezaian, Robert Levinson, Saeed Abedini, and Amir Hekmati to the custody of the United States, and formally recognized the State of Israel as a sovereign and independent state.

"The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To prohibit the President from waiving, suspending, reducing, providing relief from, or otherwise limiting the application of sanctions pursuant to an agreement related to the nuclear program of Iran)

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:

SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF AUTHORITY TO WAIVE, SUSPEND, REDUCE, PROVIDE RELIEF FROM, OR OTHERWISE LIMIT THE APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS PURSUANT TO AN AGREEMENT RELATED TO THE NUCLEAR PROGRAM OF IRAN.

(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President may not--

(1) waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of sanctions described in subsection (b) or refrain from applying any such sanctions; or

(2) remove a foreign person listed in Attachment 3 or Attachment 4 to Annex II of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action from the list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury.

(b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this subsection are--

(1) the sanctions described in sections 4 through 7.9 of Annex II of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; and

(2) the sanctions described in any other agreement related to the nuclear program of Iran that includes the United States, commits the United States to take action, or pursuant to which the United States commits or otherwise agrees to take action, regardless of the form it takes, whether a political commitment or otherwise, and regardless of whether it is legally binding.

c) Exception.--The prohibitions under subsection (a) shall not apply if the Islamic Republic of Iran--

(1) has released Jason Rezaian, Robert Levinson, Saeed Abedini, and Amir Hekmati to the custody of the United States; and

(2) formally recognizes the State of Israel as a sovereign and independent state.

(d) Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Defined.--In this section, the term ``Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' means the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed at Vienna on July 14, 2015, by Iran and by the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and all implementing materials and agreements related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

This act shall take effect 4 days after the date of enactment.

Mr. McCONNELL. I ask for the yeas and nays on my motion.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The yeas and nays were ordered."

Here are the names of the Senators who chose Iran over Israel and party politics over the national security of the United States.

NAYs ---45
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Booker (D-NJ)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Leahy (D-VT)
Markey (D-MA)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Peters (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)