The White House on Tuesday said President Obama “would be willing” to sign a bipartisan bill emerging on Capitol Hill that would give Congress a say on any nuclear accord with Iran, assuming the legislation isn’t further overhauled.
Obama “would be willing to sign the proposed compromise,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters of the legislative package authored by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
However, Earnest cautioned that the language of the compromise could change during the markup of the bill, which would alter Obama’s calculus.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers hailed a potential compromise that would give them the chance to review a nuclear deal with Iran. Obama would like to finalize an agreement by the end of June.
In recent days, senior administration officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, have been lobbying Democrats to oppose the Corker legislation. However, those efforts appear to have failed.
Under the initial understanding reached between the P5+1 nations — the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — and Iran, the Middle Eastern nation would limit its nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief.
With the latest legislative compromise, Congress would have 30 days to review a nuclear pact, cutting in half the original timeline proposed by Corker. The White House also would have to certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran was meeting its commitments.
In addition, the compromise would soften the language on Iran’s practice of state-sponsored terrorism.
For weeks, the White House has insisted that Obama would veto legislation granting Congress more oversight of the nuclear pact. Earnest declined to say whether the president’s thinking was altered by the high number of defections among Democrats.
