Iran's not-yet-online research and development reactor near Arak.
Sen. Bob Corker
told Bloomberg TV Tuesday morning that negotiations with top Democrats over the weekend have ensured that a bill calling for congressional review of an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program will pass the Foreign Relations Committee with bipartisan support and have easy sailing in the full Senate. The Tennessee Republican is chairman of the committee, which will mark up the bill—
Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015—Tuesday.
Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan report:
Corker spent the weekend negotiating with Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the panel’s ranking member, and Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the former top Democrat on the panel who co-wrote the bill with Corker. Those talks appear to have borne fruit.
"I believe we’ve struck an exact right balance in the agreement that will be voted on today and I’m hopeful that we’re going to be very, very successful,” Corker said while appearing on CNN’s “New Day.”
In its original form, the bill authorizes Congress to review any Iran agreement for 60 days during which time President Obama would be prohibited from lifting sanctions on Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has said that lifting of sanctions as soon as the agreement is signed is crucial for getting Iran's approval.
Eight of the bill's 21 co-sponsors are Democrats, but only two of them—Bob Menendez and Tim Kaine—are members of the Foreign Relations Committee. An "aye" vote is expected from all the Republicans on the 19-member committee, and Corker has been working the past few weeks to add to the list of committee Democrats who back it in hopes that they will sway enough Democrats in the full Senate to give the bill a veto-proof majority. Corker has recently said that he is within a couple of votes of the 67 needed for that purpose.
Various sources note that changes being proposed in the bill have not moved the White House away from its strong opposition to the bill even though some Democrats have urged the president to soften its views on the legislation. The administration opposes the bill on several grounds, but the main ones are that it will be passed before the June 30 deadline on negotiating the final agreement, that it would bar the president from immediately lifting sanctions and that it requires the administration to certify that Iran is not backing terrorism.
Given the delicate balancing act Corker must maintain, he likely will seek to squelch some amendments from committee Republicans. One of those has been proposed by Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican who announced his candicacy for the presidency Monday. Rubio wants the bill to include a requirement that Iran recognize Israel before any nuclear agreement can be signed. That's a deal-killer for some Democrats who might otherwise vote for the bill.
Once clearing the panel with whatever amendments are approved, the bill is likely to be voted on by the full Senate before the end of April, possibly as soon as next week. If it does, the House will vote on the bill soon afterward, according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He has said that he expects it to pass the House with a veto-proof majority, but that's quite the assumption for a bill not yet even introduced in the House.
Join us in petitioning Democrats to stop the plan to sabotage the president’s Iran negotiations