Brad Sherman, House Democrat, defects from Obama on Iran nuke deal

Another Democratic lawmaker defected from the Obama administration Friday over the nuclear deal with Iran.

Rep. Brad Sherman of California, the second-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he came to his decision after meeting one-on-one with President Obama about the accord.

“This agreement is the good, the bad and the ugly,” Mr. Sherman said. “It contains the good and the bad in the first year, and gets ugly in the years thereafter.”

He said the good part of the deal is the requirement for Iran to give up 97 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium and decommission two-thirds of its centrifuges. The bad: “Iran gets access to at least $56 billion of its own currently-frozen funds, and free access to the international oil markets.”

And the ugly, he said, is that Iran is permitted within 15 years “to have an unlimited quantity of centrifuges of unlimited quality, as well as heavy water reactors and reprocessing facilities.”

“A strong congressional vote against the agreement is the best way to make it clear that the agreement is not binding on Congress, the American people or future administrations,” Mr. Sherman said. “My efforts have one purpose: Make it clear that future presidents and congresses are not bound by this agreement — not legally, not morally, not diplomatically.”

His decision comes less than 24 hours after Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat who’s in line to become the next party leader in the Senate, announced his decision to vote against the deal.

Congress will hold votes on the agreement in September.

Mr. Sherman also had a rejoinder to Mr. Obama about his argument that lawmakers opposing the nuclear deal are the same people who rushed to war against Iraq in 2003.

“It should be noted that many supporters of the agreement also supported the invasion of Iraq, including Vice President [Joseph] Biden, Secretary [of State] Kerry and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.”