WASHINGTON — While Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked an effort to stop President Obama’s controversial deal with Iran, Republicans in the House are passing their own measures asserting the Obama administration hasn’t followed the law in giving Congress all the information they need in order to approve or reject the deal.
Several members of Alabama’s congressional delegation have spoken out against the deal in recent weeks, saying not only is it bad for U.S. national security, but President Obama has rejected the law in pushing it through.
The Corker-Cardin law, passed earlier this year, required the executive branch to submit all relevant materials to Congress for review. Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6) says this provision hasn’t been fulfilled.
“The Corker-Cardin law is clear,” said Palmer. “It requires that the President to transmit to Congress ‘the agreement … including all related materials and annexes’ before any sanctions can be waived. The President has failed to transmit the ‘side agreements’ concerning the exact terms of the nuclear inspections. I joined 93 of my colleagues in a letter to the President concerning this issue last month. Unfortunately, these materials have still not been transmitted to Congress. The President needs to comply with the law and give Congress access to all of the documents that are part of this deal with Iran.”
Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL5) echoed these concerns on the House floor, saying “Barack Obama has failed to obey the law he signed that governs Congress’ consideration of the Iran Nuclear Treaty by failing to disclose the documents that the statute requires him to disclose. It is the President’s obligation to enter into an agreement that empowers him to comply with the statute. If he is negotiating an agreement that in turn prevents him from complying with the statutory duties that he agreed to, then he is violating the law.”
The non-binding resolution, called a “Sense of Congress,” passed Thursday 245 to 186.
On Friday the House voted down the Iran agreement on a bipartisan 162 to 269 vote, and passed a bill which would prohibit the Obama administration from lifting sanctions on Iran.
“This will likely be the most important vote I will take during my time in Congress, and I could not support the nuclear agreement, which will put the American people at greater risk,” said Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) after the Friday votes. “This deal does not do nearly enough to prevent Iran from gaining access to a nuclear weapon. In turn, the deal will empower Iran by giving them access to billions of dollars in sanctions reliefs and allowing them to acquire Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.”
“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, my constituents can rest assured that I will continue to do all I can to bring this deal to a halt and hold the Obama administration accountable.”
Congresswoman Martha Roby (R-AL2) has also expressed her concern multiple times during the last several months leading up to this week’s votes, and said she’s glad Congress will be “on record” for whether or not they support the deal.
“I think it is so important to continue to apply pressure,” Roby said. “To get Members of this House on record for whether or not they support this deal and want to protect the president on this.”
“Even though the Senate is touting that they have the votes to protect the president on this, I think we need to continue to apply as much pressure as we can in opposition to this very, very bad deal.”
For Congress to fully reject the Iran deal, it would need several Democratic senators to side with Republicans in order to overcome an Obama veto.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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