WASHINGTON — Less than twelve hours after President Barack Obama directly warned lawmakers against nudging their way into talks over Iran’s nuclear program, members of Congress made clear that they weren’t planning to heed his cautions.
“I have met no one that believes that us weighing in would do anything to destabilize these negotiations,” newly-minted Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said at a Wednesday hearing. “Not a single one of [our negotiating partners] has any concerns whatsoever with Congress having the ability to vote up or down on a final deal. Many of them believe it strengthens our hand.”
Obama promised in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that he would veto any new sanctions legislation that makes it to his desk. His administration has been insistent that it does not consider Congress’ approval necessary for signing a deal capping Iran’s nuclear program.
In more than two hours of adversarial exchanges, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and David Cohen, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, appealed to lawmakers to halt their efforts to push through a number of legislative proposals on Iran currently floating in Congress.
A proposal being pushed by Corker requires Congress to have an up-or-down vote on any nuclear deal before the U.S. signs on — a condition supported by a growing chorus of lawmakers. While the White House has been skeptical of that idea thus far, Blinken admitted Wednesday that the proposal wouldn’t violate the Joint Plan of Action, the interim agreement brokered between Iran and the P5+1 negotiating partners in November 2013.
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Despite the momentum on Capitol Hill, though, Iran experts have warned that passing new sanctions at this time could endanger the prospects of reaching a deal, disrupting a delicate relationship between Tehran and international negotiators that is already characterized by substantial mistrust.
Corker’s proposal has not yet garnered an outpouring of bipartisan co-sponsors. However, Democrats at Wednesday’s hearing expressed vocal support for the measure, in an indication that lawmakers may be inching toward passing a veto-proof measure that legislates a role for Congress in the nuclear negotiations — a situation the White House hopes to avoid.
The latest round of negotiations concluded Sunday. The administration has said it intends to reach a framework deal by March and hopes to work out technical details to reach a final deal by July.
