Obama’s Next Negotiation on Iran Is With Critics in Congress
US President Barack Obama embraced a preliminary nuclear accord struck with Iran even as congressional critics of the negotiations vowed to go ahead with legislation that could scuttle a deal.
Striking an agreement that pulls Iran back from the brink of building a nuclear weapon would be a capstone achievement for Obama’s second term. Republicans and some Democrats in the US Congress said on Thursday they aren’t sold on the agreement and that lawmakers must sign off on any final deal.
“Rather than bypass Congress and head straight to the UN Security Council as planned, the administration first should seek the input of the American people,” said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement.
Corker, sponsor of a bill that would give Congress authority to approve or reject any deal, predicted a “strong vote” from his committee when it takes up the measure on April 14.
Several Democrats who are co-sponsoring Corker’s bill also called on Thursday for Congress to review a final agreement.
The “announcement deserves careful, rigorous and deliberate analysis,” New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the number three Democrat in the chamber, said in a statement.
Under pressure
Over the next three months, while negotiators for the US and five other world powers haggle with Iranian counterparts over crucial details, Obama and his aides will be under pressure to make a case to voters and lawmakers that Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be curbed and that the Tehran regime’s compliance can be verified.
“Success is not guaranteed,” Obama said at the White House on Thursday shortly after the framework was announced in Lausanne, Switzerland. “But we have a historic opportunity to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in Iran and to do so peacefully. We should seize that chance.”
Republicans on both sides of the Capitol generally reacted negatively to the agreement.
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said the administration gave up too much in the deal. Congress “must be allowed to fully review the details of any agreement before any sanctions are lifted,” Boehner said.
‘Vast capabilities’
Other Republicans were more harsh. Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, co-sponsor of a bill to impose new sanctions on Iran, said the agreement would leave Tehran with “vast capabilities” to produce nuclear weapons.
“Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from Adolf Hitler,” Kirk said in a statement.
Freshman Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, the chief author of a letter from 47 Senate Republicans to Iranian leaders warning that a future US Congress could reverse any nuclear deal, said the administration was considering a “list of dangerous US concessions that will put Iran on the path to nuclear weapons.”
“I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to protect America from this very dangerous proposal and to stop a nuclear arms race in the world’s most volatile region,” Cotton said in a statement.
Expecting debate
In his remarks Obama acknowledged the skepticism of some lawmakers and said he looks forward “to a robust debate in the days and weeks to come.”
Obama said he has instructed his staff to brief lawmakers and planned to talk with the leaders of the House and Senate himself. Obama also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a critic of the negotiations who has lobbied Republicans to keep up pressure on the White House.
Netanyahu said on Twitter that he told Obama of his opposition to the agreement. “A deal based on this framework would threaten the survival of Israel,” and “would not block Iran’s path to the bomb,” Netanyahu said.
Obama told Netanyahu that the US remains concerned about Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism and threats against Israel, according to a White House statement. He said the administration’s commitment to Israel is “steadfast” and promised continued consultation on security matters.
Obama said Congress will be responsible for the risk posed if it kills the deal before it’s finalized, and cited agreements reached by Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The administration’s main goal is keeping enough Democrats on board to prevent Congress from being able to override a promised veto of the legislation sponsored by Corker and Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.
‘Fundamentally alter’
Congress “must fulfill its oversight responsibilities,” Menendez, who stepped down as the top Democrat on the foreign relations panel after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, said in a statement. “Congress is entitled to a review period of an agreement that will fundamentally alter our relationship with Iran and the sanctions imposed by Congress.”
Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who is taking over the party’s top slot on the foreign relations committee, hasn’t said whether he will back the Corker measure, though emphasized Thursday that “Congress has a role to play in this process.”
The bill would require the administration to wait 60 days before suspending sanctions against Iran, during which time lawmakers would have the opportunity to approve, reject, or take no action on the deal.
Republicans hold 54 seats in the Senate and would need 13 more votes to override a veto by Obama. So far, eight Democrats and one independent have signed on as cosponsors of the Corker- Menendez bill. Among them is Schumer, who is seen as the successor to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who announced he won’t seek re-election next year.
Critical briefings
Obama could help boost his case by framing the agreement as an international accord rather than just one between the US and Iran, said Patricia DeGennaro, an adjunct professor of international security at New York University.
“This is an international negotiation,” she said.
Bringing in international supporters for the agreement to talk with lawmakers could also help the administration, she said. Netanyahu, an opponent of an agreement, addressed Congress earlier this month. British Prime Minister David Cameron previously had telephoned US lawmakers to urge an agreement when he visited the US
Gary Sick, a former National Security Council official who specialized on Iran during the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981, said that Republicans will struggle to get a veto-proof majority.
“When people begin to see their actions have real consequences and those consequences could be historic, they think twice,” said Sick, now an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “A lot of Democrats would find it extremely difficult to vote against their own president in a situation like that.”
Bloomberg
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