WASHINGTON, May 8: The US Senate has overwhelmingly passed legislation giving Congress the right to review and perhaps even reject any nuclear deal with Iran, the culmination of weeks of wrangling over how to hold Tehran to account.
The bill passed 98-1 after overcoming initial objections from President Barack Obama. It comes amid intense negotiations between world powers and Iran on a deal intended to prevent Tehran’s development of a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.
“We worked hard to create a great bipartisan balance,” said the measure’s chief author, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker.
Republican Tom Cotton was the lone member voting in opposition to legislation that would give lawmakers at least 30 days to review any final Iran accord.
The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, where it has the support of the chamber’s Republican leaders.
According to White House spokesman Eric Schultz, Obama “said he would sign the legislation in its current form.”
If it goes through, it would also prevent Obama from easing economic sanctions against Tehran during the review period. The legislation would also compel the president to assert to Congress every 90 days that Iran was complying with the deal.
Lawmakers would have the ability to support or oppose the nuclear pact by voting for or against lifting congressionally imposed sanctions on Iran.
Should Congress pass a resolution opposing the accord, Obama would have 12 days to veto it. If he does, Congress would have 10 more days to override the veto.
Democrats and Republicans alike said it was vital to assert congressional oversight over the nuclear deal.
“This is important because this president has shown a predisposition to go it alone,” number two Senate Republican John Cornyn said.
US lawmakers “cannot be frozen out of the debate and the decision-making when it comes to something as important as an Iranian nuclear negotiation,” he added.
“Our goal is to stop a bad agreement that could pave the way to a nuclear-armed Iran (and) set off a regional nuclear arms race,” said House Speaker John Boehner in applauding the bill’s Senate passage. (AGENCIES)
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