Progressives Disgusted After Sen. Schumer's 'Outrageous' Break on Iran Deal

Amid general disgust among progressives, the activist group MoveOn.org on Friday announced it would launch a “donor strike” against the Democratic Party over Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) break with colleagues and President Barack Obama over the Iran nuclear agreement, calling Schumer’s opposition of the deal “outrageous and unacceptable.”

Schumer, who is angling to take over as Senate Minority Leader following the scheduled retirement of Harry Reid next year, announced late Thursday that he would vote against the deal.

Click Here: Maori All Blacks Store

“I believe Iran will not change, and under this agreement it will be able to achieve its dual goals of eliminating sanctions while ultimately retaining its nuclear and non-nuclear power,” he said.

MoveOn said Schumer’s reasoning—which aligns with that of “Republican partisans and neoconservative ideologues”—is an attempt to “put the nation on a path to war” and must be met with decisive action. The organization, which raises funds for candidates it identifies as progressive, launched both a donor strike against lawmakers who oppose the deal and a call for Democrats in Congress to “find a new leader.”

The group’s political action executive director Ilya Sheyman released an impassioned statement on Friday announcing the boycott, which will “organize grassroots progressives across the country to withhold campaign contributions from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and from any Democratic candidate who succeeds in undermining the president’s diplomacy with Iran.”

“No real Democratic leader does this,” Sheyman said. “If this is what counts as ‘leadership’ among Democrats in the Senate, Senate Democrats should be prepared to find a new leader or few followers.”

The strike urges MoveOn’s collective 8 million members to withhold $10 million in campaign contributions within 72 hours of Schumer’s announcement.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT