WASHINGTON — The presidential campaign collided head-on with congressional debate on the Iran nuclear deal Wednesday, producing an only-in-Washington political spectacle inside the Capitol and out as lawmakers readied for what could be the most consequential foreign policy vote of their careers.
As the day began, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the accord. "Diplomacy is not the pursuit of perfection. It is the balancing of risk," she said in a speech at the Brookings Institution. Either the deal moves forward, or "we turn down a more dangerous path leading to a far less certain and riskier future."
Across town, Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and other conservatives, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were preparing to headline an anti-deal rally on the lawn of the Capitol. And at the same time, debate on the measure aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program began in both the House and the Senate, where supporters and the White House were pushing to block passage of a disapproval resolution.
The agreement struck by Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers in July will provide Iran hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions in exchange for a decade of constraints on Iran's nuclear program.
See Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.