Republican and Democratic sponsors of legislation that would require President Obama to submit any nuclear deal to Congress for review urged their fellow senators Thursday not to upset a carefully crafted bipartisan compromise that paved the way for the bill to come to the floor.
“In my view the best way to send a clear message to Tehran about our expectations is for Congress to pass the Corker-Menendez Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act as it was voted out of committee,” said Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Democratic co-author of the legislation.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 14 approved the bill in a rare 19-0 vote after committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ben Cardin of Maryland, who took over as ranking Democrat after Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges, worked out compromise language designed to satisfy Democratic objections. After the committee vote, Obama removed his veto threat.
The bill has 62 co-sponsors and is likely to easily become law if nothing is done to upset the compromise. The key question is whether that will happen.
Cardin urged senators who wanted to revise the legislation to bring their suggestions to the bill’s sponsors to see what can be worked out before Tuesday, when the chamber is set to take up amendments.
“Share with us so that we have an opportunity to keep the unity that we have,” he urged, noting that the legislation as currently written was a rare example of bipartisan compromise whose spirit should be preserved.
The bill would give Congress 30 days to review a deal and decide whether to vote on a resolution of disapproval. If one is adopted, the bill allows another 22-day period during which Obama can veto the resolution and Congress could try to override his veto.
During that period, Obama may not waive any sanctions written into U.S. law. But if the disapproval resolution is not adopted over his expected veto, that restriction is lifted.
Many Republicans are not happy with the compromise, insisting that Obama is required under the Constitution to submit an arms control deal with Iran for Senate ratification as a treaty.
In effect, the legislation turns that process upside-down. The Constitution requires 67 Senate votes to ratify a treaty, while the bill would require 67 Senate votes to block Obama from carrying out any agreement.
Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has submitted an amendment to require Obama to submit any deal for formal Senate ratification. Many of his fellow Republicans are still sympathetic to that idea, though any move to do so would also require a veto-proof majority to overcome Obama’s refusal to submit a deal.
Corker, who has argued that the compromise is the best way to preserve a congressional role in the process, noted that current law allows Obama to bypass Congress entirely.
“The president today has the power without this legislation to go straight to the U.N. Security Council, without coming to Congress, and implement whatever deal he wants with Iran,” he said.
Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democratic co-sponsor, likewise reminded lawmakers who have argued against congressional review of a deal that Americans expect their representatives to have a role.
“It’s what the American public expects and deserves,” he said.
