House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul told reporters that lawmakers are planning to file a discharge petition to force a resolution of disapproval of the Biden administration’s plan to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
President Joe Biden’s push to reenter an agreement similar to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which looked to place a limit on Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for a rollback of international sanctions and was abandoned by the Trump administration in 2018, has sparked bipartisan concerns. Members are sounding the alarm that lifting sanctions could lead to Iran using the funds for illicit activities that pose a national security risk.
Lawmakers have also voiced frustrations that the administration plans to enter what they argue essentially acts as a treaty without Congress greenlighting the agreement.
McCaul, a Texas Republican, is now looking to use the discharge petition, a procedural mechanism that requires the support of 218 lawmakers and allows members to circumvent leadership and force a vote on a measure on the floor, to require the administration to obtain congressional approval to enter the deal.
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“We are drafting a discharge petition to mandate the administration comply with the law and INARA [The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act], which we passed in Congress the last time this came around,” McCaul said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I really have to say in our briefings, if we are doing a whip count, I’m seeing a lot of Democrats that are with us, and all we need is 218 on that discharge to, first of all, comply with the law, which is crazy that we have to even ask for that.”
Rep. Joe Wilson, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, noted that Iran did not comply with the terms of the previous agreement, calling plans to reenter a deal “suicidal” for the United States and Israel.
“Iran has announced death to America, death to Israel, and we know that when they agreed to the last that they never stopped developing ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles),” said Wilson, a South Carolina Republican. “They call it for the launching of satellites — come on, let’s get real.”
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Pro-Israel Democrats expressed similar sentiments about threats to the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East during a press conference earlier in the day.
“A nuclear Iran, regardless of what commitments are made, funding Hezbollah, Hamas — through these giving billions of dollars to fund terror around the world to kill Americans to attack our bases, and of course, to kill our allies,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat.
“We understand that while the recent negotiations have not concluded, we feel that we can’t stay quiet about the unacceptable and deeply troubling turn that these results have reportedly taken,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat.
The timing of when a deal will be announced remains unclear, as talks have continued to stall in recent weeks.
