WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday blocked a Republican effort aimed at undercutting last year's landmark international nuclear deal with Iran.
The Senate fell three votes short of the 60-vote threshold — 57-42 — to move ahead on the amendment sponsored by freshman Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Cotton's proposed provision would have barred the United States from using taxpayer dollars to buy any more Iranian "heavy water." The proposal had triggered a war of words with the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's national security adviser says America's top diplomatic and defense brass needs to become more diverse.
Susan Rice says minorities still make up less than a fifth of senior U.S. diplomats, and less than 15 percent of top military and intelligence officials. But minorities are 40 percent of the population nationwide.
