U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Fla., the one member of the Florida delegation who remained on the fence over President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, has finally taken sides. She annonced Thursday she opposes the deal.
She said she has written an oped, which she hopes will run in the Tallahassee Democrat and the Panama City News Herlad, making her case against the agreement.
The House is expected to vote on the matter Friday.
Graham’s district is expected to change as state judicial branch handles redistricting after the Legislature failed to reach a final agreement on new maps in last month’s special session. Despite this, two Republicans -- Dr. Neal Dunn, a surgeon from Panama City, and Tallahassee attorney Mary Thomas -- are already running against Graham.
Both of the Republicans strongly oppose the Iran deal and Dunn came out swinging on Thursday, urging Graham to vote against it.
“Today, I call on Congresswoman Gwen Graham to vote no on the Iran deal,” Dunn said on Thursday. “The security of our nation depends on keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations, and this deal does exactly the opposite. This is a bad deal for the American people.
“We must defend our nation from terrorism and other threats, and this deal does nothing more than put nuclear power in the wrong hands,” Dunn added. “It is my hope that Congresswoman Graham will turn her ‘undecided’ vote tomorrow into a ‘no.’”
Thomas is also against the Iran deal. Last weekend, the Panama City News Herald ran a piece from Thomas in which she made her case against Obama’s agreement.
“The Iran deal abandons every requirement for a good deal, even some requirements that President Obama himself campaigned on,” Thomas wrote. “Instead of requiring Iran to dismantle all of its centrifuges, Iran’s right to enrich uranium has been legitimized. Even President Obama admits that after fifteen years Iran’s breakout time would be reduced to zero with the lifting of nuclear restrictions. The American people and our allies were promised that Iranian compliance with the deal would be monitored with ‘anytime anywhere inspections.’ With the release of the final deal, ‘anytime anywhere’ became ‘as needed.’ The inspections regime in the deal allows the Iranians to delay any inspection of one of their declared nuclear sites for up to twenty-four days. This is unacceptable. A lot can be hidden in twenty -four days. Imagine giving an accused drug dealer twenty-four days’ notice before searching his house. Just as concerning, is the secret side-agreement that was discovered between the IAEA and Iran, which Congress will not get to read before voting early next month.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
