Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reversed himself on plans to hold a March 10 vote on a bill that would empower Congress to reject a U.S. nuclear deal with Iran.
The move came after days of behind-the-scenes wrangling among Senate Republicans, with GOP co-sponsors of the bill urging the Kentucky Republican to postpone the vote in order to ensure veto-proof Democratic support.
Recommended Stories
Democratic support for the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act evaporated this week after McConnell scheduled the vote for March 10. Democrats said they would only begin consideration of the measure after March 24, the deadline for the two countries to establish the framework of an agreement, and many GOP co-sponsors of the bill sided with them.
All of the Democratic supporters threatened to vote against the bill if it came up for a vote next week, which would prevent it from passing or surviving a likely veto from President Obama.
“I greatly appreciate the Majority Leader’s commitment to getting the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act across the finish line by allowing the vote to occur at a time when we will more likely generate a veto-proof majority,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a co-sponsor of the bill, said.
The bill would provide congressional authority to review as well as approve any U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. It would also prohibit the Obama administration from lifting congressionally mandated sanctions against Iran for 60 days.
McConnell rushed the bill to the floor for a vote after listening to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address a joint session of Congress on March 3. Netanyahu warned lawmakers the emerging deal with Iran is weak and would not prevent the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon.
A McConnell spokesman, in a statement released Thursday, suggested Democrats should be willing to vote next week, since they introduced the bill in February, long before the March 24 deadline.
“While the original schedule would have allowed for a committee markup and vote on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 before final floor consideration, it is clear that Senate Democrats will filibuster their own bill,” said Spokesman Don Stewart, adding, “a bill they rushed to introduce before the White House cut a deal with Iran. So, instead, the Senate will turn next to the anti-human-trafficking legislation while Democrats decide whether or not they believe they and Congress as a whole should be able to review and vote on any deal the President cuts with the leaders of Iran.”
Senate Democratic leaders accused McConnell of playing politics with the bill by trying to force them to vote on it before March 24, which would buck the Obama administration at a critical time in the negotiations.
“Senator McConnell made the right decision by heeding calls from Democrats and Republicans to back off his transparently political move,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. “Protecting Israel and the world from a nuclear-armed Iran is too important of an issue to use in partisan political games.”
