The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider a bipartisan bill to require congressional approval of any nuclear deal with Iran on April 14, after the Easter recess and the deadline negotiators had set for the political framework of a final agreement.
Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, said in a joint statement Thursday that the delay was intended to build bipartisan support for the legislation. Corker had told reporters Tuesday that the bill would be considered next week.
“We have been working together very closely to ensure we have the strongest vote possible on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and to achieve that result, we have agreed to a markup of the bill in the Foreign Relations Committee as soon as we return on Tuesday, April 14,” the statement said.
The delay means the legislation will not be considered before Tuesday, the deadline set by international negotiators for agreeing on a political framework for a deal that would replace an interim one expiring July 1. Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz have been meeting all week in Lausanne, Switzerland, with their Iranian counterparts in hopes of reaching agreement by the deadline.
The legislation is the product of an ongoing dispute with the White House over the proper role of Congress in any deal. President Obama has said he would not submit the deal to Congress for approval, but lawmakers insist they must have a voice, not the least because U.S. sanctions against Iran have been enacted into law, some over Obama’s veto.
The legislation would tie any relief of sanctions for Iran under a deal to the congressional approval process and would bar Obama from offering sanctions relief if the deal is not approved.
Obama has threatened to veto the bill and has lobbied Democrats hard to keep them from supporting it. Corker and Menendez, meanwhile, are seeking to move the legislation with sufficient support to override a veto.
The bill picked up two new co-sponsors this week, Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Including Menendez, seven of the bill’s 17 co-sponsors are Democrats.
