Democratic Party Chairwoman and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday she will vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
“In weighing everything, all the information, I’ve concluded the best thing to do is vote in support of the Iran deal and put Iran years away from being a nuclear state,” Wasserman Schultz, the first Jewish-American woman to represent Florida in Congress, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday on “State of the Union.”
The vote gives Obama key support as he looks to build consensus among Democrats as Congress returns this week to take up the proposal. He has already locked in enough votes in the Senate to sustain a veto.
Wasserman Schultz explained her reasoning in an op-ed in The Miami Herald Sunday.
“I wrote an op-ed in there today that talks about this and my Jewish heart and how important this was to me that as a Jewish mother,” she said, holding back tears. “We have a concept of l’dor v’dor – from generation to generation – there’s nothing more important to me, as a Jew, than to ensure Israel’s existence is there throughout our generations.”
Wasserman Schultz told Tapper she had been in the White House’s Situation Room more than two dozen times over the last two years to get briefed on the deal.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell also declared his support for the Obama administration-backed agreement Sunday, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it “Is a good deal.”
President Barack Obama tweeted a thank you to Powell on Sunday.
“Thank you, Colin, for putting your experience and expertise behind this important initiative for our country,” Obama tweeted.