House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday endorsed a measure requiring congressional approval of a nuclear deal with Iran, but she downplayed the bill’s potency.
“I don’t think we need any legislation,” Pelosi told reporters. “But, as innocuous as it is, [there is] no problem going forward.”
The legislation is a compromise measure authored by Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn. It changes the terms of an earlier bill, watering down several requirements and cutting the congressional review time in half.
The bill also strips out the requirement that Iran receive certification that it is not a state sponsor of terrorism against the United States. And it leaves out a requirement that the deal require 67-vote approval in the Senate.
Obama and some Democrats in the House and Senate feared the original bill would scuttle a nuclear agreement with Iran.
“It’s much different than the original Corker bill,” Pelosi said. “The Corker bill in the form that it was in was harmful.”
The compromise bill has earned the support of President Obama, who would have faced a likely veto-proof majority in Congress.
