Wasserman Schultz blocked Iran resolution at DNC meeting: report

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz blocked consideration of a resolution at the party’s summer meeting that would have praised President Obama and backed the his nuclear deal with Iran, The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

{mosads}Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who is Jewish, has not yet publicly said what she thinks of the nuclear deal and how she intends to vote when Congress considers it in September.

A DNC spokesperson said procedural issues blocked consideration of the resolution at the Minneapolis meeting, according to the report. The spokeswoman didn’t address Wasserman Schultz’s role.

The resolution would have put the national party on record in support of the agreement reached between the U.S., other world powers and Iran last month.

Instead of the resolution, James Zogby, the co-chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee, prepared a letter expressing support for Obama and the Iran deal. The letter gained signatures from an overwhelming majority of DNC members, Zogby said.

“We wanted to show support for the president,” he told the Post. “We found that the best way to show support was a letter that members would sign on to, and the overwhelming majority of DNC members signed onto the letter. This is the President Obama we elected in 2008 who said, ‘I choose diplomacy over conflict,’ and he did it.”

Next week, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Wasserman Schultz’s heavily Jewish district to sell the Iran deal to constituents in that area.

An increasing number of congressional Democrats are coming out in support of the agreement in recent weeks.

A notable exception is Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), expected to be the next Senate Democratic leader, who has said he opposes the nuclear deal.