House votes for review of Iran nuke deal
Lawmakers seek guarantees against bad agreement
The House overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday that would require President Obama to let Congress review any final nuclear deal with Iran.
House members voted 400-25 to pass the bill, which would give lawmakers 60 days to review a deal and bar Obama from lifting any economic sanctions imposed by Congress against Iran during that review. If Congress members didn’t like the deal, they could pass a joint resolution of disapproval. Obama would then have to decide whether to veto that resolution.
The Senate approved an identical version of the Iran Nuclear Review Act last week by a vote of 98-1. The legislation goes to the president, who has said he will sign it.
The bill’s passage ensures “Congress is in a position to effectively and decisively judge and constrain President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, should a bad deal be struck,” said Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif.
“Of course, we all hope that Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon can be diplomatically stopped,” Royce said. “This legislation should strengthen the administration’s hand at the negotiating table, but Secretary (of State John) Kerry must put its added leverage to use immediately so that the U.S. can gain muchneeded ground in the negotiations over the next two months.”
Negotiations on the deal between Iran, the United States and five other nations continue in Austria. Diplomats are trying to reach a final agreement by June 30 on a deal aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Both Republicans and Democrats made it clear Thursday that they are skeptical of any deal with Iran. Lawmakers said they will look closely to make sure Iranians agree to thorough inspections that can occur anytime and anywhere at military and civilian sites to ensure weapons are not secretly developed.
“There is no reason for us to trust Iran,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House. “Any final agreement should include the most intrusive inspections in order to ensure compliance. The United States must never permit Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.”
Iranian leaders have said they will not allow inspections of their military bases. Kerry has said any deal with Iran must include unfettered international inspections. He said the U.S. government will not agree to any deal that would enable Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
Obama initially opposed any legislation that could derail a deal. He later said he would support the bill after it became clear it had bipartisan support. The compromise legislation from Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., was unanimously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 14.