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 A spokesman for Senator Dick Durbin, who counts Democratic votes
as the Senate's minority whip and who supports the deal, said
Democrats were still confident they could rebuff Republican attempts
to sink the agreement in a showdown next month.
"The momentum is behind this deal, as you've seen from Democrats
coming out this week," spokesman Ben Marter said.
Schumer, New York's senior senator, announced late Thursday that he
would oppose the nuclear pact between six world powers and Iran
announced on July 14.
President Barack Obama is trying to win over enough of his fellow
Democrats to block Republican efforts to pass a "resolution of
disapproval" that could cripple the deal, which is designed to curb
Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting of economic
sanctions.
Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote on such a measure. If it passes,
as even many in Obama's administration believe, there would be 22
days for the president to decide on a veto and Congress to try to
override it.
 So far, at least 14 Senate Democrats and independents who vote with
Democrats and about 34 House Democrats have announced they would
back the deal. There are 46 members of the Democratic caucus in the
100-member Senate and 188 Democrats in the 435-member House.
Most Republicans have already said they are opposed, as have a
handful of House Democrats.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York's junior senator, announced her
support on Thursday, hours before the announcement by Schumer.
Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin announced on Friday she approved.
WHITE HOUSE SHRUGS OFF SCHUMER
Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House was "not
particularly" concerned that the decision by Schumer, the
third-ranking Senate Democrat, would encourage more opposition.
"We continue to be confident that the vast majority of Democrats in
the United States Congress will make a decision based on their own
conclusions and not on Senator Schumer's," Earnest said told
reporters.
Representative Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, had also said on Thursday he
opposed the deal.
Democrats said neither Schumer nor Engel had been expected to be yes
votes. Pressure on them and other Jewish lawmakers had grown as
Israel's government, and some pro-Israel lobbying groups, said the
agreement would open the way for Iran to get a nuclear weapon and
threaten Israel's existence.
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However, if either had backed the deal, it could have tipped the
balance strongly in favor of approval, Democratic aides said.
Schumer said he would encourage fellow senators to oppose the
agreement, and would vote to override a veto.
A source closely tracking the issue said before Schumer's decision,
it appeared possible for Democrats to have mustered the 41 votes
they needed to use procedural votes in the Senate to block the
Republican vote to "disapprove" of the deal.
Now, the fight will more likely be about ensuring they can keep
Republicans from mustering the two-thirds majorities in both
chambers to override an expected veto of the Republican move by
Obama.
Administration officials were blunt in their disappointment with
Schumer, who had had multiple briefings by top Obama aides.
Schumer came to meetings with a list of questions, but "those
questions were lifted straight from AIPAC" a senior U.S. official
said, referring to the pro-Israel lobbying group. "He came into it
with a certain mindset," the official said.
Schumer said he made his decision "without regard to pressure,
politics or party."
An aide in the House, where Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of
California is a strong backer of the deal, said nothing this week
had altered Pelosi's confidence that she had enough votes to sustain
an Obama veto of a resolution of disapproval, if need be.
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Lindsay Dunsmuir; editing
by David Storey and Grant McCool)
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