Iran, AIPAC and a vote in the House

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Today's the Hill features an article by Roxanna Tiron on the state of measures "calling for the president to seek authorization from Congress for a preemptive strike on Iran" circulating in Congress. The article is most interesting in how it breaks down how different Democrats have voted at different times on similar legislation and the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on the debate:

House Democratic leaders initially attempted to insert Iran language in their now-vetoed Iraq supplemental bill after some New York Democrats, including Reps. Eliot Engel and Gary Ackerman, balked at the language.

The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), an influential group that advocates strong U.S. ties with Israel, lobbied heavily to remove the Iran provision in the supplemental, arguing that the measure would weaken President Bush’s attempts to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Needing every vote they could get, House leaders dropped the provisions before narrowly passing the Iraq measure.


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