Avoiding an IRS Audit. Odd way to break from Obama when running for reelection.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, has withdrawn his support for a new Iran sanctions bill after President Obama reiterated his threat to veto it in the State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
The president has repeatedly said any new threat of sanctions would derail the six-month interim deal to roll back parts of Iran’s nuclear program that the U.S. and other world powers negotiated with Tehran.
Manchin, D-W.Va., faces a tough re-election this fall and has regularly parted ways with the administration on Obamacare and energy policy.
He initially backed the sanctions bill sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., but yanked his support for it Tuesday night after Obama said, “For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.”
None of the other 13 Democrats who have signed onto the bill as co-sponsors have followed suit as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a review of the legislation on Thomas.gov.
The bill allows a full year of diplomacy with Iran to play out before imposing new sanctions if Tehran failed to fulfill its obligations under the preliminary nuclear deal.
Manchin said he only supported the bill to strengthen the president’s hand in negotiations, but now thinks it should not receive a vote on the Senate floor.
“I did not sign it with the intention that it would ever be voted upon or used upon while we’re negotiating,” he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
“I signed it because I wanted to make sure the president had a hammer if he needed it and showed him how determined we were to do it and use it if we had to,” he added. “But with that being said, we’ve got to give peace a chance here, and we’ve got to support this process.”