STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: A powerful Democrat says he's opposing President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. Senator Chuck Schumer published an article last night saying the agreement has serious shortcomings.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Schumer's decision is not a complete surprise. He's been skeptical of the deal for some time. But his move is significant. Congress has a chance next month to vote to block the Iran deal.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Schumer is expected to be the next Democratic leader in the Senate. He's a longtime lawmaker from New York. And he is one of the nation's most prominent Jewish Democrats. He publicly talked over the Iran deal earlier this year in a speech before a Jewish group.</s>CHUCK SCHUMER: Which is better, no agreement or an agreement that is not close to the ideal? And to me, there's not a clear-cut answer because each is (unintelligible).</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: In that speech, Schumer said the deal that might look good enough to the United States could still be unacceptable to Israel. He said that even a small chance of a nuclear armed Iran was too great for Israel to tolerate.</s>CHUCK SCHUMER: This is one of the most important decisions that I will ever make as an American as well as somebody who tries to be a Shomer Yisrael.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Someone who tries to be a Shomer Yisrael, a guardian of Israel in Hebrew. In his post on Medium, Schumer said his decision reflects specific weaknesses in this deal, like some limits on nuclear inspection.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: He says the deal would be helpful in its early years but in later years would not do enough to restrain Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The next leader of the Senate's Democrats, New York's Chuck Schumer, says he won't vote for President Obama's Iran deal. It's a big blow coming from the most influential Jewish voice in Congress.