Elizabeth Warren Goes All Foreign Policy on Iran Sanctions Bill

[Douglas Carpenter]

&cfs=1&sx=0&sy=8&sw=615&sh=321

Elizabeth Warren – an unyielding progressive on economic issues – does not often make headlines in the foreign policy department. However, today she made waves by coming out strongly against the Iran sanctions bill which threatens to derail President Obama's diplomatic progress.

Warren made her position clear in a letter to constituents, which was described by Warren's spokesperson Lacy Rose in the following way:

“Senator Warren believes we must exhaust every effort to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy, and she does not support imposing additional sanctions through new legislation while diplomatic efforts to achieve a long-term agreement are ongoing.”

Warren broke her silence today along with Senator Patty Murray, who as part of the Senate Democratic leadership proved that a definite rift within the Democratic Party on the sanctions bill exists – a rift which may prevent the bill coming up for a vote.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/22/1271714/-Elizabeth-Warren-Goes-All-Foreign-Policy-on-Iran-Sanctions-Bill

[rdharma]

1. Elizbeth Warren on the 2016 Presidential ticket........

.....PLEASE!

[Proud Public Servant]

2. Only on the top of the ticket

She's far more valuable as a senator than as Veep.

[rdharma]

4. Agreed! nt

[daleanime]

8. +1

[ProSense]

3. Excellent. From

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2014, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

the Greg Sargent piece linked to at Daily Kos.

Right now, the current count of Senators who are co-sponsoring the Iran sanctions bill is at 58, with 16 Democratic Senators supporting it. Meanwhile, 10 Democratic committee chairs have come out against the bill. Harry Reid is said to be against it, too. That leaves nearly 30 Senate Dems unaccounted for.

10 Democratic Committee Chairs Warn Menendez's Iran Sanction Bill Could Blow Up Negotiations

<...>

The 10 senators who signed the letter are Banking Committee Chair Tim Johnson (S.D.), Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (Mich.), Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (Md.), Commerce Committee Chair John Rockefeller (W.Va.), Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (Calif.)., Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chair Thomas Carper (Del.), Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Ron Wyden (Ore.), and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Tom Harkin (Iowa).

<...>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/iran-sanctions_n_4475204.html

[DLnyc]

5. Thank you, Elizabeth Warren, for speaking up for diplomacy

and braving the headwinds of various war-making funding machines!

[JDPriestly]

6. Thank you, Senator Warren.

Obama is doing a good job, trying to achieve by negotiations and cooperation not just the end of the nuclear weapons race with Iran but also peace in the Middle East.

A war would be costly in terms of human lives and scarce resources. And then, look what the sar in Iraq led to. That should be enough to discourage any hawk from thinking that we can resolve difference through war. And if Iraq isn't enough, let's look at Afghanistan. We've been there more than 10 years.

It may be that Obama will decide to go to war in Iran, but I agree that we should try everything short of that before actually dropping the first bombs.

[grantcart]

7. This should be a no brainer and not a call to courage.

But we are sadly among a Congress and Senate that has few of either.

Thank you Senator Warren.

[Douglas Carpenter]

9. Stop AIPAC drive to war over Iran

The U.S. Senate is just eight votes away from passing veto-proof legislation that could torpedo diplomatic negotiations with Iran and send the U.S. to war. But outrage is growing and we can help turn the tide by sending a message to the 21 senators who have come out against AIPAC-backed bill S.1881, and the 20 senators who haven't endorsed. Sign the petition below to make sure these senators stand strong and don't support AIPAC's war bill.

please click on the link below to sign this petition sponsored by



http://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14904

[Douglas Carpenter]

10. here is a current list of sponsors of the bill to add more sanctions and scuttle the agreement

My thanks to Jewish Voices for Peace and the Iranian-American Council for providing this updated list



PRO-SANCTIONS (16 D, 43 R):
Cosponsor of S.1881


Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
John Barrasso (R-WY)
Mark Begich (D-AK)
Michael F. Bennet (D-CO)
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)*
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Dan Coats (R-IN)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Susan M. Collins (R-ME)
Christopher Coons (D-DE)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Kay R. Hagan (D-NC)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
John Hoeven (R-ND)
James M. Inhofe (R-OK)
John Isakson (R-GA)
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Joe Manchin, III (D-WV)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Mark L. Pryor (D-AR)
James Risch (R-ID)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Tim Scott (R-SC)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
John Thune (R-SD)
Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Mark R. Warner (D-VA)
Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)

*has indicated he/she does not
support a vote on S.1881
at this time


-------------------------------------------------------

Here is a list of Senators who publicly oppose S.1881 and support a diplomatic solution with Iran

Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Thomas R. Carper (D-DE)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME)
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Christopher Murphy (D-CT)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Mark Udall (D-CO)
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a list of Senators who have not yet taken a position on whether or not to scuttle the agreement with Iran


Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Harry Reid (D-NV)
Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Jon Tester (D-MT
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

http://www.niacouncil.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Take_Action_No_Sanctions

[G_j]

11. another score!

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. Thank you, senator.

[Whisp]

13. Thankyou, Ms. Future President Hopefully. n/t

[Beacool]

14. We'll see how all this turns out.

Iranian official on nuke deal: 'We did not agree to dismantle anything'

(CNN) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Wednesday that the Obama administration mischaracterizes concessions by his side in the six-month nuclear deal with Iran, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that "we did not agree to dismantle anything."

Zarif told CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto that terminology used by the White House to describe the agreement differed from the text agreed to by Iran and the other countries in the talks -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

"The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments" under the agreement that took effect Monday, Zarif said in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/22/politics/iran-us-nuclear/index.html?hpt=po_c1

[karynnj]

18. CNN, especially Wolf Blitzer idolizes Netanyahu and seems permanently in sync with AIPAC

There are minor differences in semantics - and there are vested interests in the US and in Iran to assuage their hardliners. In Iran, that takes the form of minimizing their concessions and in the US we will use the strongest language to state Iran's concessions.

However, there are concrete things that were done. Note Iran says they did not "dismantle" anything. Note they do not say that they have processed some of their 20% enriched uranium to make it not compatible with making a nuclear bomb. Doing that dismantles nothing --- but it does exactly what Obama/Kerry said - it rolls back the break out date (when Iran could make a weapon) and it freezes them there until the 6 months negotiates end or are replaced by a final agreement.

I am surprised that you are downplaying what, if successful will be an Obama administration foreign policy accomplishment on a scale with his domestic policy achievement, ACA. One reason I am more hopeful is that various articles with quotes from Clinton people are now referring to how the first steps of diplomacy - and the sanctions - were done under Clinton. If Hillary praises the agreement, it will be a clear sign that these experts think things will work out. Call it political prudence or not being willing to risk her own political capital, but so far she has been silent on the negotiations. Not even a tweet anywhere.

As I have said for a year, the BEST thing for Hillary is for Obama foreign policy to work very well. 2016 will NOT be a contest on whether Hillary or Kerry was the best Secretary of State - it will be whether people prefer her to the Republican nominee - if (as seems likely) she is the nominee. As one of her credits is that she was SoS, if the world is in worse shape than in 2008, she will not get much credit for her tenure. If they are good, Obama will obviously argue that both his SoS helped make the world better. (Kerry, as SoS, will be limited - as HRC was in 2012 - in what he can say --- but he certainly would make it clear that he respects HRC.)

[Beacool]

21. I'm being cautious, not downplaying it.

I don't trust Iran. They may be just yanking our chain to delay sanctions. I hope that they meant what they said last September, but we'll just have to wait and see. Won't we?

As for how this affects Hillary, she's not the current SOS, she doesn't have to comment on Iran. My distrust of Iran has nothing to do with Kerry, or Hillary for that matter. You are the one implying that there's a contest. I think Kerry is doing a fine job as SOS.

[karynnj]

23. You mean November - I assume.

Note I said that it is politically prudent for her to say nothing.

I don't think ANYONE in the US government "trusts" Iran. The international agreement is not based on "trust", it is based on tradeoffs that - taken together - are in everyone's interests and which have the possibility of defusing Iran as a ticking time bomb.

What alternative would you personally support? Do you support Netanyahu, Menendez et al in further tightening sanctions? If so, what is the endgame there? I assume you do not support the US using a military option to eliminate the weapons.

[Beacool]

24. No, I meant September.

It was Rouhani who approached the Americans at the UN General Conference.

I'm not offering an alternative. I'm just saying that the Western powers would do well with taking caution and confirming that Iran will fulfill their end of the deal. The world doesn't need another North Korea.

[karynnj]

25. The talks - both the P5 and seperate secret American talks - preceded

the UN. The secret talks used Oman as a back channel and were established in 2011 and William Burns, deputy secretary of State was involved - and he obviously reported to HRC. Kerry, as Chair of SFRC was used to help establish this back channel.

I assumed you meant the interim agreement.

[Wilms]

15. ^

[pampango]

16. "... we must exhaust every effort to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy ..."

Wonderful. Sen. Warren's embrace of international diplomacy - talking and negotiating with other countries - is to be expected. The alternative of 'cowboy diplomacy' (the US acting unilaterally and expecting the rest of the world to just deal with it) belongs to a bygone (republican) era.

[karynnj]

19. Nice to see her sounding like her former senior Senator here. nt

[madokie]

17. Senator Warren is always right

Best I can tell anyway. I would vote for her in a heartbeat. No if, and or buts about that.

[emsimon33]

20. Gotta love Elizabeth Warren!

[pjt7]

22. Good

for Senator Warren!