House minority leader has votes to sustain Obama’s veto: Journalist

US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will have the votes necessary to sustain President Barack Obama’s veto of the Republican resolution against the Iran nuclear agreement, an American investigative journalist says.

Wayne Madsen, author and columnist specializing in intelligence and international affairs, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday while commenting on a report which says the House of Representatives will vote next week to either approve or disapprove of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, announced on Wednesday that the chamber will vote on the July 14 nuclear accord as it returns from the August vacation next week.

“We now know that in the US Senate that President Obama has enough votes to sustain his veto of this Republican and Israel lobby attempt to derail the US approval of the agreement, with Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland being the needed vote in the Senate,” Madsen said.

“On the House side, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has already indicated strongly that she has the votes necessary to also sustain President Obama’s veto of the similar bill to derail the US approval agreement in the House.”

On Wednesday, Democratic Senator Mikulski became the 34th senator to announce that she would support the deal.  On Thursday, Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Mark Warner said they will also back the agreement.   

Democrats need 34 votes in the Senate, or 146 in the House of Representatives, to sustain the veto President Obama has promised. The new announcements mean Democrats will now have enough votes to protect the nuclear agreement in Congress.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany – announced the conclusion of nuclear negotiations in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Under the agreement, Iran has been recognized by the United Nations as a nuclear power and will continue its uranium enrichment program, but some restrictions will be placed on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.

Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, almost unanimously oppose the agreement because they say it gives too many concessions to Iran and threatens the security of Israel.

Madsen said, “I am pretty confident that when the vote comes up in the House that Minority Leader Pelosi would have the votes to do the same thing essentially in the House what has already happened in the US Senate.”

“President Obama will have the votes to veto this resolution, this attempt to derail the US approval… and then they won’t be able to override this veto, they – the Republicans and the Israel lobby -- just don’t have enough votes,” he concluded.

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