The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a compromise bill allowing Congress to vote on a deal to stem Iran’s nuclear program.
President Barack Obama, who had threatened to veto the original bill, embraced the compromise, an acknowledgment that there’s enough bipartisan support on Capitol Hill to pass it over his objection.
Republicans who oppose the pending nuclear deal joined Democratic supporters of Obama on Iran in voting 19-0 for the compromise forged by committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the panel’s new ranking Democrat.
“What we have before us today is a bill that forces the administration, before they are able to lift the sanctions that we collectively put in place that brought (Iran) to the table, it forces the administration to bring to us every detail if there is a final agreement,” Corker said. “This puts Congress in its rightful role.”
The bill now goes to the Senate floor. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that his chamber would take up the bill, adding that Senate Democratic support “would make it much stronger in the House and veto-proof.”
The compromise measure would give Congress 30 days to review the nuclear deal still being negotiated between Iran, the Obama administration and five world powers.
The original version of the bill, authored by Corker and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., called for a 60-day review. Menendez was the ranking Democrat on the committee but stepped down after he was indicted on federal corruption charges.
The compromise bill prohibits any lifting of sanctions during the review and allows Congress a vote to allow or deny the lifting of congressionally imposed sanctions on Iran.
It also softened language that had easing sanctions on Iran contingent upon the Tehran government renouncing its support of terrorism.
Also, Obama would be required to give Congress an assessment every 90 days on whether Iran is complying with the nuclear agreement. In addition, the administration would have to provide detailed reports on Iran’s ballistic missile work and terrorism activities.
If the administration can’t certify compliance on the nuclear deal, or if Obama determines that Tehran has violated it, Congress could vote to restore sanctions that were waived under the deal.
Corker and Cardin said the compromises were needed to get buy-in from Democrats and the White House while keeping Republican critics of the nuclear deal in the fold.
It worked. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a staunch critic the original bill, praised the compromise.
“There’s no longer language in the bill tying extraneous issues to the bill,” she said. “Also, I’m pleased what’s highlighted in this is that we will not be voting on the final deal, if there is one, until after it is concluded.”
The White House also got aboard.
“Despite the things about it that we don’t like, enough substantial changes have been made that the president would be willing to sign it because it would reflect the kind of compromise that he’d be willing to sign,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
The administration didn’t have much choice. Democratic support for the measure has given it a likely veto-proof majority.
Not everyone was enamored with some of the compromises. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of two Republican presidential candidates on the Foreign Relations Committee, wanted stronger language in the bill to force Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Corker, appearing Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said, “We’ve added some language that accommodates” Rubio’s concerns but didn’t offer specifics.
Still, Rubio told the committee that “this is an issue we’re going to talk about on the (Senate) floor.”
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the other Republican White House contender, didn’t speak during Tuesday’s meeting and voted “yes” with the committee’s nine other Republicans.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., argued that the nuclear agreement rises to the level of a treaty, which should require the Senate to ratify it with 67 votes. This measure, he said, is “a role with very limited teeth.”
“We will not have 67 senators approving of this deal,” he added. “That is not what this bill is going to do.”
Corker said that if he had a wand and “we could make pigs fly,” he would have moved the bill “that we discussed.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., the freshman lawmaker who authored a letter to Iran’s leaders critical of the nuclear negotiations that was signed by 47 Republican senators, did not immediately comment on the Foreign Relations Committee vote.
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