Obama Pen: Hello Mt. Denali. Will Senate Dems Try To Prevent Up-or-Down Vote On Iran Deal?

Today in Washington, D.C. - Aug 31, 2015:
If you missed it, President Obama is at it again with his pen and phone. He is visiting Alaska today on a three day visit. President Barack Obama will change the name of North America’s tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali without approval of Congress. The White House said Sunday that Obama is bestowing the traditional Alaska Native name. First off, Congress named the Mountain and it is not the president who names our natural resources and government buildings. But he is doing it anyway.

As part of his visit, Obama is attempting to show solidarity with Alaska Natives and will hold a round-table session with a group of Alaska Natives today in Anchorage. The state of Alaska has had a standing request to change the name dating back to 1975. But their efforts and legislation in Congress have been stymied by members of Ohio’s congressional delegation.

It not the name change of a mountain that is the issue but the arrogance of President Obama in doing so. CNN identified that Obama will also call attention to Alaska as a kind of climate change ground zero and push his "Global Warming" agenda.

Congress is still on their August recess. During the recess, many of the senators and representatives have travel throughout their states to meet with constituents or to do fund raisers.

The House will reconvene on September 8th with no votes until 6:30 PM They will only be in session to consider and vote on issues from Tuesday at 3 PM to Friday at 3 pm when they will adjourn to get return home for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and then return on Sept 16th with no votes 6:30 PM and try to finaihs up before taking off for another week in their Districts returning in time for votes at 6 pm on Aug 28 and 2 1/2 days attempting to keep the government from shutting down and the President in check with his radical actions.

Note, the House has passed appropriations bills which the Senate democrats have blocked from being taken up with the agenda of supporting the President's desire for a Continuing Resolution and bigger government with all government employees getting more money.

The Senate will reconvene for legislative business on Tuesday, September 8th when it will take up H. J. Res. 61, the Resolution of Disapproval of the Iran Agreement.

The Hill wrote yesterday, “Republicans intend to hammer Senate Democrats next month if they do not allow an up-or-down vote on a measure disapproving President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. . . . If the resolution is filibustered, it would be a major victory for the White House, which wouldn’t have to use President Obama’s veto pen to protect the Iran deal.

“Opponents of the agreement, however, believe Senate Democrats will pay a political cost.

“‘Democrats will be setting themselves up for a further political hit if they deny the people the opportunity — the people meaning members of Congress — to vote on it,’ said Allen Roth, the president of the hawkish Secure America Now, which is staunchly opposed to the agreement. ‘I think it’ll be handing a political gift to the Republicans.’

“Republicans have already begun to make their case.

“Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) called it ‘stunning’ that Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could push to filibuster the bill in an interview with The Associated Press this week. “A vote to cut off debate would be hypocritical, Corker argued, after the Senate voted 98-1 earlier this year to allow it to review the agreement. ‘All but one senator voted in favor of having the right to vote on the final deal, so then to turn right around and filibuster it to me is very inconsistent and I think would be confusing to the people they represent,’ Corker told the AP.

“Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also scolded Democrats, warning this week that Reid ‘wants to deny the American people a voice entirely by blocking an up-or-down vote on this terrible deal.’”

The Obama administration and many Senate Democrats seem to be doubling down on this deal even as the weeks that followed its announcement have featured more and more revelations about the weaknesses of the deal and Iran’s ongoing perfidy.

According to CNN, “Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver a major speech on the Iran nuclear deal at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, CNN has learned. Kerry will use the speech to defend the merits of the agreement and respond to its critics.

“During an interview with CNN in Anchorage ahead of a conference of Arctic nations, the secretary pushed back on the notion that the Iranians would be able to self-inspect at Parchin, as Republicans in Congress have alleged.

“‘We are satisfied that we will be able to have a process which can get us the answers,’ Kerry said. ‘If they are not accountable in the way that we expect them to be with appropriate access then they would be in material breach of the agreement and subject to any and all options available to the United States.’”

That’s not an allegation of Republicans, though. That comes directly from the IAEA agreement with Iran that the AP published.

The AP explained, “According to a draft document viewed by AP, Iran has agreed to cooperate with the U.N. in answering longstanding allegations about possible past work to develop nuclear weapons at its Parchin plant — but only with the Iranians conducting the inspections themselves. Iran would collect its own environmental samples on the site and carry out other work usually done by IAEA experts. The IAEA will be able to review the Iranians' work after the fact. The deal on Parchin was between the IAEA and Iran. The Obama Administration was not a direct party to the agreement, but apparently was aware of it.” Of course, the AP noted, “Any IAEA inspection of a country suspected of nuclear irregularities is usually carried out by agency experts. . . . The document on Parchin, however, will let the Iranians themselves look for signs of the very activity they deny — past work on nuclear weapons. It says ‘Iran will provide’ the agency with environmental samples.”

Meanwhile, the news of Iran pushing the envelope at every opportunity continues. Reuters reported last week, “Iran appears to have built an extension to part of its Parchin military site since May, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report on Thursday, as part of its inquiry into possible military dimensions of Tehran's past nuclear activity.

“A resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Parchin file, which includes a demand for fresh IAEA access to the site, is a symbolically important issue that could help make or break Tehran's July 14 nuclear deal with six world powers.

“The confidential IAEA report, obtained by Reuters, said: ‘Since (our) previous report (in May), at a particular location at the Parchin site, the agency has continued to observe, through satellite imagery, the presence of vehicles, equipment, and probable construction materials. In addition, a small extension to an existing building’ appeared to have been built.

“The changes were first observed last month, a senior diplomat familiar with the Iran file said.

“The IAEA says any activities Iran has undertaken at Parchin since U.N. inspectors last visited in 2005 could jeopardize its ability to verify Western intelligence suggesting Tehran carried out tests there relevant to nuclear bomb detonations more than a decade ago. Iran has dismissed the intelligence as ‘fabricated’.

“Under a ‘road map’ accord Iran reached with the IAEA parallel to its groundbreaking settlement with the global powers, it is required to give the Vienna-based watchdog enough information about its past nuclear activity to allow it to write a report on the long vexed issue by year-end.”

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