SXMElections.com

WASHINGTON--Senator Robert Menendez blasted the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, vowing to oppose it in defiance of President Barack Obama, who picked up much-needed support for the deal from two other Senate Democrats.
  As September voting on the agreement in the U.S. Congress neared, Menendez, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, became the second senior lawmaker from Obama's own party to announce he would vote to kill the pact with Tehran.
  "I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto" by the president, Menendez said in a speech in his home state of New Jersey.
  Shortly later, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island, announced that they would support the agreement. Reed sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and could help sway other Democrats' views on the matter.
  Republicans almost unanimously oppose the agreement and plan to schedule votes in Congress on a "resolution of disapproval" against it by Sept. 17. Obama is trying to gather enough support among Democrats to sustain a veto of the resolution.
  Twenty-three of the Senate's 44 Democrats have announced their support for the agreement, which would impose new curbs on Tehran's nuclear program in return for easing economic sanctions. Iran denies it wants to make a nuclear weapon. That level of Senate support is 11 votes short of the 34 Obama would need to prevent the Senate from killing the deal.
  Earlier this month, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said he would vote against the deal, which was negotiated by the United States, five other major powers and Iran. Schumer said he would work to persuade other senators to oppose it too, signaling that there are deep divisions within the Democratic Party on the issue.
  Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, supports the deal. Democratic Leader Harry Reid will declare his position when the Senate returns from recess on Sept. 7, when lobbying and debate in Congress over the deal is expected to intensify.
  If the agreement were to go into effect, Menendez said, it would hurt national security while abandoning a long-held U.S. policy of preventing nuclear proliferation. Instead, he said, it would establish a policy of "managing" nuclear proliferation. Despite his stance against the Iran deal, it is not clear how much Menendez would influence other Democrats.
  A senior Obama administration official said the announcement had been expected and would not alter White House plans. "The strategy is the exact same today as it was yesterday," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.