WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry stepped into contentious territory on Wednesday when he made a critical remark about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judgement record on U.S. foreign policy.
The comments came while Kerry was testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Committee member Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) pointed to Netanyahu’s upcoming address to the U.S. Congress as evidence of the weakness of the deal being negotiated between Iran, the United States and five other world powers over Iran’s nuclear program.
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In an effort to give Congress more input about a final agreement, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced a bill that gives Obama three days to submit the text of any negotiated deal to Congress for a 15-day review period. If Congress doesn’t approve of the agreement, the bill calls for the reimposition of any sanctions on Iran that have been lifted.
Although the subject of Wednesday’s committee hearing was the State Department budget, Kerry ended up fielding more questions about the nuclear negotiations with Iran, as was the case with his testimony Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
