The presidential campaign collided head-on with congressional debate on the Iran nuclear deal Wednesday, producing an only-in-Washington political spectacle inside the Capitol and out as lawmakers readied for what could be the most consequential foreign policy vote of their careers.

As the day began, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the accord. “Diplomacy is not the pursuit of perfection. It is the balancing of risk,” she said in a speech at the Brookings Institution. Either the deal moves forward, or “we turn down a more dangerous path leading to a far less certain and riskier future.”

Across town, Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and other conservatives, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were preparing to headline an anti-deal rally on the lawn of the Capitol. And at the same time, debate on the measure aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program began in both the House and the Senate, where supporters and the White House were pushing to block passage of a disapproval resolution.

The agreement struck by Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers in July will provide Iran hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions in exchange for a decade of constraints on Iran’s nuclear program.

But Cruz, speaking on the Senate floor, Cruz assailed the accord, arguing that “this terrible deal will not stop a virulently anti-American and anti-Israeli regime from getting a nuclear bomb.”

The House, returning from summer recess, is expected to approve the disapproval resolution this week. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who is working hard to bolster support for the deal, invited ambassadors from the other five nations in the agreement to meet later Wednesday with House Democrats.

In a boost to the administration, two top House Democrats — Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Xavier Becerra of California, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, announced their support for the deal.

“No matter how deep, how personal, and how sincere my concerns about this agreement are, they ultimately do not outweigh the need for a united position on Iran,” Hoyer said in a statement.

Desperate to block the Iran agreement, House Republicans appeared divided over their next step. The House is scheduled to vote Friday, but Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., has introduced a resolution to delay the vote, arguing that the 60-day clock on the congressional review period hasn’t started because lawmakers did not get more information on separate agreements negotiated with Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said it was too late to delay the vote.

“You know what, I think it’s pretty clear that a month and a half ago, we understood that Sept. 17 would be the drop-dead date, and the week we’re doing it is a little bit late to bring up the argument,” said Sessions, a close ally of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, said, “There seems to be some divisions inside the conference.”

In the Senate as of Tuesday, 42 Democratic and independent senators had announced support for the deal — one more vote than needed to block passage of a resolution of disapproval and hand President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory.

But it remained unclear if all 42 would go along with procedural maneuvers to mount a filibuster and prevent a final vote on the resolution. The administration is pushing for that outcome and Senate Democrats were meeting Wednesday with Secretary of State John Kerry, a lead negotiator of the accord.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an author of the legislation to allow Congress to review the deal, was adamant that the Senate vote on the merits of the deal.

“With 98 senators on the record voting in support of the legislation, I am very disappointed that some members on the other side of the aisle are reversing their positions and now are threatening to filibuster to keep the Senate from voting on this consequential agreement with Iran,” Corker said.

Although the wheels of Congress are turning in favor of the president, those opposed are launching an all-out push against the deal. Several hundred members of a pro-Israel lobby were to be at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to reject the deal with Iran, whose leaders have threatened to destroy the Jewish state.

(AP)