Patty Murray announces support for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran

Wash­ing­ton’s senior U.S. sen­a­tor and the fourth-rank­ing Demo­c­rat in the Unit­ed States Sen­ate, Pat­ty Mur­ray, has just released a lengthy state­ment pledg­ing to sup­port Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma by vot­ing against a res­o­lu­tion of dis­ap­proval con­cern­ing the  Joint Com­pre­hen­sive Plan of Action with Iran.

The first para­graphs of the state­ment are as follows:

There are no more momen­tous deci­sions fac­ing a Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor than those involv­ing war, peace, and the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty of our fam­i­lies, our ser­vice­mem­bers, our allies, and our nation. When it comes to these issues, my con­stituents expect me to do every­thing I can to cut through the pol­i­tics, push aside the par­ti­san­ship, break through the rhetoric, and make the best pos­si­ble deci­sion with the infor­ma­tion we have. I take this respon­si­bil­i­ty very seri­ous­ly, and I have approached my deci­sion on the upcom­ing vote on this deal the same way I approached my deci­sion to sup­port a war in Afghanistan, and the same way I approached my deci­sion to oppose a war in Iraq.

In the weeks since the deal was announced, I have been study­ing the details, talk­ing to experts, ask­ing ques­tions, get­ting more infor­ma­tion, and lis­ten­ing to my con­stituents on all sides of the issue.

I pushed the Admin­is­tra­tion for details and answers to tough ques­tions, and I had frank con­ver­sa­tions with Pres­i­dent Oba­ma, Vice Pres­i­dent Biden, and Sec­re­tary Ker­ry. I attend­ed clas­si­fied brief­in­gs with the State Depart­ment, Ener­gy Depart­ment, and mem­bers of the intel­li­gence com­mu­ni­ty. I had good con­ver­sa­tions with Israeli Ambas­sador Der­mer and so many strong and pas­sion­ate sup­port­ers on both sides of this issue in Wash­ing­ton state and across the country.

And I came away from my con­ver­sa­tions with a deep respect for the pas­sion­ate and strong­ly-argued views on all sides of this issue.

Going into this deci­sion, I had clear prin­ci­ples guid­ing my thinking.

First and fore­most, Iran can­not be allowed to devel­op a nuclear weapon, and my deci­sion would be based on what course of action moves us clos­er to that pri­ma­ry goal.

Sec­ond, Iran can­not be trust­ed, and no deal should hinge on them hold­ing up their end of the bar­gain based on their word or good faith alone. Third, a strong diplo­mat­ic solu­tion is the best option.

And fourth, the Unit­ed States needs to keep all options on the table, includ­ing mil­i­tary options, if Iran decides to move toward a nuclear weapon or threat­ens us or our allies in any oth­er way.

Guid­ed by these prin­ci­ples, I will be vot­ing to sup­port the agree­ment to pre­vent Iran from devel­op­ing a nuclear weapon. I will vote against the res­o­lu­tion of dis­ap­proval, and, if need­ed, I will vote against over­rid­ing Pres­i­dent Oba­ma’s veto. 

Empha­sis is ours.

We thank Sen­a­tor Mur­ray for tak­ing a prin­ci­pled stand for peace, not war, and giv­ing diplo­ma­cy a chance to work. The Joint Com­pre­hen­sive Plan of Action is the best way for us to ensure that Iran does not devel­op a nuclear weapon.

Sen­a­tor Mur­ray joins over two dozen oth­er Democ­rats, includ­ing Sen­a­tor Har­ry Reid and Sen­a­tor Dick Durbin, as sup­port­ers of the JCPOA. Only two Demo­c­ra­t­ic sen­a­tors, Chuck Schumer and Bob Menen­dez, have come out in oppo­si­tion so far.

If at least forty-one Democ­rats band togeth­er, they could hold up a res­o­lu­tion of dis­ap­proval in the U.S. Sen­ate and pre­vent it from even get­ting to Pres­i­dent Oba­ma’s desk, thanks to the Sen­ate’s unde­mo­c­ra­t­ic rules, which allow a sub­ma­jor­i­ty of sen­a­tors to pre­serve the sta­tus quo and pre­vent the Sen­ate from act­ing on leg­is­la­tion (or in this case, adopt­ing a resolution).

Mur­ray is the first of the Pacif­ic North­west­’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic sen­a­tors to take a firm posi­tion on the JCPOA. Now it’s time for her col­leagues Maria Cantwell, Ron Wyden, and Jeff Merkley to fol­low suit. There is only one posi­tion they can respon­si­bly take, and that is to sup­port this agree­ment and the Pres­i­dent who nego­ti­at­ed it.