The White House and Congress are butting heads over the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Upset over Barack Obama’s pathway to appeasement, 47 GOP senators wrote an open letter to Iran’s leaders.
Many have called this a traitorous letter. Republicans disagree.
The White House more than just a little annoyed with the Republicans now.
The GOP Senators wrote to Iran’s leaders, to tell them that not only did they have power over an U.S.-Iran deal, but they would use those powers if they didn’t like the deal.
The relevant sentence in the letter said “we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more then an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.”
Now, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough has written to GOP Senator, Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, asking him not to put forward the vote on his bill that would give Congress 60 days to reject or approve any deal with Iran, until after the negotiations are completed, according to a Politico report.
That isn’t all of the news, though, even though much of the left-sided media would like it to be the whole story.
The real news is that Republicans are not the only ones concerned about what the White House is doing. Almost a dozen Democrats support the Republicans.
McDonough argues that the measure “goes well beyond ensuring that Congress has a role to play in any deal with Iran.”
The Senate isn’t backing down, though, and remember, it is Republicans and Democrats.
Corker sayd Democrats are not backing away after McDonough’s request. Corker told Politico, “Nobody’s dropping out. We’ve had reaffirmed commitment from Democrats.” As it presently stands, nearly all of the 54 Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats in the Senate are on board.
Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters told Politico, “The letter was simply unacceptable, and it brought hyperpartisanship to an issue that we need to maintain our bipartisanship in.” Peters is a supporter of sanctions that would not take effect unless talks fall apart or Iran backs away from the terms of any deal.
10 Democrats have insisted they would not support a bill that would allow Congress to reject a deal before the March 24 negotiations deadline. At the same time this noise is going on, the House is preparing to hold hearings this week to question administration officials on Iran. This may indicate they intend to pass a sanctions bill, just as the House did in 2013.
The White House appears to be determined continue working on a deal with Iran, no matter what the House or Senate does, which is the reason the Senate Committee took the action it did in the first place.
Sticking to their existing track, a senior administration official told Politico, “The administration is focused on achieving a deal that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
They obviously have not been very convincing in their words or actions so far.
