Atlantic Council Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for United Press International on the upcoming congressional vote on the Iran nuclear deal:
Numbers count. To win the U.S. presidency, at least 270 Electoral College votes are required. To pass a bill, a majority in both houses of Congress is needed. A two-thirds majority vote in both houses will override a presidential veto. And a two-thirds vote in the Senate passes a treaty.
Next week, Congress votes on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, already unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council. If successfully implemented, the JCPOA will ensure Iran does not become a nuclear weapons state for the next decade and a half and presumably for much longer. Congress will reject this agreement with some Democrats joining all the Republican members in dissent. The threshold number of votes needed for the administration to sustain a presidential veto is 34 in the Senate or 146 in the House.