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After stating that he plans to vote against the Iran nuclear deal, Sen. Chuck Schumer is receiving criticism from liberals who claim he is "unfit" to be the next Democratic leader, The Hill reports. Schumer is the first Democratic senator to go on record saying he opposes the Iran nuclear deal, but The Hill notes that, with roughly half of Senate Democrats still publicly undecided, his decision to oppose the deal could sway some colleagues who are still on the fence. "After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote...

Obama foot soldiers Tommy Vietor, Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Favreau may have made common cause with Holocaust-denying radical Twelvers hoping to obtain nuclear weapons to threaten millions of Jews, but that doesn’t mean you should be fooled by their frustration. And you definitely shouldn’t be fooled by the theater surrounding Chuck Schumer’s opposition to the president’s Iran deal. Schumer offered a detailed, 1600-word justification for his opposition to the deal and, in the most obsequious and gentle way imaginable, pointed out an abundance of falsehoods Obama’s been peddling regarding the deal.

Following in the footsteps of New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., another Democratic Jewish member of Congress has announced he will oppose the Iran nuclear agreement. "I will vote against the Iran deal," declared California Rep. Brad Sherman in a press release on Friday. "This Agreement is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It contains the good and the bad in the first year, and gets ugly in the years thereafter." The news of Sherman's opposition is another blow to the Obama administration. During the August recess, the administration has been working to create a...

Why I’m opposing the Iran nuclear deal By Charles Schumer I’ve spent the last three weeks carefully studying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I’ve decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval. I examined this deal in three parts: nuclear restrictions on Iran in the first 10 years, nuclear restrictions after 10 years and non-nuclear components and consequences. In each case, I’ve asked: Are we better off with the agreement or without it? In the first 10 years, there are serious weaknesses. First, inspections are not “anywhere, anytime”; the 24-day delay before...

I’ve spent the last three weeks carefully studying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I’ve decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval. I examined this deal in three parts: nuclear restrictions on Iran in the first 10 years, nuclear restrictions after 10 years and non-nuclear components and consequences. In each case, I’ve asked: Are we better off with the agreement or without it? In the first 10 years, there are serious weaknesses. First, inspections are not “anywhere, anytime”;

An Iranian official recently stated that no International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel will be permitted to enter military or missile sites. Another stated that "no country is permitted to know the details of future inspections conducted by the IAEA." Their statements are probably consistent. There may well be other secret deals we don't know about and perhaps never will. Meanwhile, Iran is preparing to test long range ballistic missiles "to prove that the missile ban was invalid." It's not MY fault. I. No IAEA inspections of the sites that matter mostIn an interview on Al Jazeera TV last week Ali Akbar Velayati, Security Adviser to...

The United States on Monday received a vote of confidence on the deal with Iran, as Gulf Arab states welcomed the deal negotiated with world powers, The Associated Press (AP) reported. At the same time, they said they would like further assurances that the U.S. would help them counter increasing Iranian assertiveness in the region. Speaking for the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar's Foreign Minister said that the bloc had been impressed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's presentation of the agreement and explanations of how it will be verified and enforced. "Consequently, the GCC countries have welcomed...

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the nuclear inspection organization is barred from revealing to the United States any details of deals it has inked with Tehran to inspect its contested nuclear program going forward, according to regional reports. Recent disclosures by Iran indicate that the recently inked nuclear accord includes a series of side deals on critical inspections regimes that are neither public nor subject to review by the United States. Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador and permanent envoy to the IAEA, stated over the weekend that no country is permitted to know the details of...

Unless the US Congress votes in opposition, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal with Iran with go through. What really happened and why did it happen the way it did? What happened is gradually becoming clear. It is revealed daily just how horrendous the deal really is. On every point — enrichment, centrifuges, stocks of fissile material, inspections, sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps members and businesses, "snapback," etc. — the Obama administration caved completely. Concessions on ballistic missiles and arms sales were thrown in at the last minute; the administration lied about it all, while Iran...

Scattered around the U.S. Capitol complex are a series of Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facilities, or SCIFs, which are typically used to hold Top Secret information. But today in these deeply secure settings are a series of unclassified documents—items dealing with the Iran nuclear deal that are not secret, but that the Obama administration is nevertheless blocking the public from reading. The Obama administration delivered 18 documents to Congress on July 19, in accordance with legislation requiring a congressional review of the nuclear deal. Only one of these documents is classified, while the remaining 17 are unclassified. Yet many of these...

Many Congressional Democrats, long over their deep concerns about George W. Bush's 'imperial' presidency, have taken to cheering on President Obama has he usurps and arrogates power in the name of "progress." This phenomenon was on full display as Democrats actively urged Obama to pull the trigger on his unilateral immigration fiat, which he'd repeatedly dismissed as illegal in the recent past (at least one federal court has since agreed). They similarly defended the president's various power grabs on Obamacare, including delaying and altering entire provisions of the law for political reasons, as well as appropriating billions in payments to...

Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-New York) comments on Wednesday about Democrats’ misguided focus on health care in President Barack Obama’s first term prompted backlash from top Democrats and left-leaning groups, who accused him of being politically craven. At a speech before the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday, Schumer said Democrats made a mistake by entering into a fight over health care after they passed the 2009 economic stimulus. His reasoning: Democrats were targeting the uninsured, a population that he said makes up only about 5 percent of registered voters. Only about one-third of the uninsured, he said, are registered...

In a satisfying moment of intramural recrimination this week, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York pointedly second-guessed President Obama’s decision to push sweeping health care legislation in 2010, when Americans were more concerned with the state of the economy and their economic futures. (SNIP) Even if you don’t think (as I do) that the “gang” bill would actually hurt the economic fortunes of many middle class Americans by importing competing, cheaper workers to bid down their salaries, it was hardly the sort of economic fix Schumer says the middle class was demanding. Even more than Obamacare, it failed to give...

WASHINGTON—It used to be that Democrats would mutter under their breath about President Barack Obama and the White House. Now, with the midterm elections behind them, some leading members of the president’s own party are airing their frustrations with little restraint and charting their own course. In speeches, negotiations and congressional hearings, several high-profile Democrats are disregarding the White House in ways large and small. The White House has responded with an extraordinary veto threat while Obama has made a round of calls to liberal Democrats urging them to stand up against their own leadership.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says fellow Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer’s (N.Y.) recent comments on ObamaCare are "beyond comprehension." Schumer caused a stir last month when he said Democrats “blew the opportunity the American people gave them” in 2008 by focusing on healthcare out of the gate instead of on measures to boost the middle class. In an interview with The Washington Post published Monday, Pelosi noted that Schumer wrote the 1994 assault weapons ban that was blamed for Democratic losses that year. She hit Senate Democrats for distancing themselves from President Obama in the midterm elections, and the...

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of Capitol Hill’s most influential voices in the Iran nuclear debate, is strongly endorsing passage of a law opposed by President Barack Obama that would give Congress an avenue to reject the White House-brokered framework unveiled last week.

The White House on Tuesday expressed confidence it could win over enough Democrats in Congress to stymie an effort to allow lawmakers to approve any nuclear deal with Iran. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who will likely become the next Senate Democratic leader, dealt a blow to the White House on Monday when he reiterated support for congressional review of an Iran deal. The White House believes Congress should not have the final say on an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Officials are making a full-court press to convince Democrats to give negotiators at least until the June 30...

Sen. Chuck Schumer is famous for his ability to locate the nearest TV camera and plant himself squarely in front of the lens. And yet, as about 8,000 rallied in Manhattan Wednesday night on an issue near and dear to Schumer’s heart — Israel’s security — the senator was a no-show. The rally was in opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal. Schumer was absent because he hasn’t yet decided whether to do the right thing and oppose President Obama’s disastrous deal, or do the opposite of the right thing and shepherd it through Congress. Israel’s supporters in the United States...

Seth Mandel explains how President Hussein Obama is using (a willing) Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to drive a wedge in the US-Israel relationship. [N]othing Obama has done to damage Israel’s standing in Congress could compare to getting Chuck Schumer — the supposed shomer (guardian, in Hebrew) of Israel — to ensure the survival of a nuclear deal that rearranges America’s Mideast alliances by elevating Tehran at the expense of the Israelis, the Saudis, the Jordanians and the Egyptians, among others. And that’s why crowds in Times Square Wednesday night chanted “Where is Chuck Schumer?” As Schumer continues to avoid...

HANOI, Vietnam — US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday he “profoundly disagrees” with the reasoning behind decisions by two prominent Democratic lawmakers to vote against the nuclear deal he negotiated with Iran. Speaking in the Vietnamese capital, Kerry said the facts do not bear out the arguments made by the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat Chuck Schumer, and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel. He said he respects the right of lawmakers to make their own decisions about the merits of the deal, but said rejection does not offer any alternative than a drumbeat...