Republicans know they'll face an uphill fight in an effort to kill the upcoming nuclear containment deal with Iran, even with a law passed in May that allows Congress to weigh in on the agreement, because President Barack Obama will likely be able to get the 34 votes he needs in the Senate to sustain a veto.
"Clearly, it's going to be challenging," New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte told
Politico.
And Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., the only senator to vote against the Iran review bill, said on Tuesday that he opposed the measure because it gives the "illusion of oversight without oversight."
That is, Cotton said, the review law leaves it up to Congress to gather enough votes to prevent a veto, rather than requiring the administration to attract enough votes to approve the agreement, as would be normally done with a treaty.
"It didn’t give Congress much power that’s beyond our inherent authority," Cotton said of the May law. "If that act was not law, we could still pass legislation with a veto-proof majority to block the deal from moving forward."
Democrats, though, are saying that the very fact that the deal's deadline had been moved back repeatedly — from June 30 to July 7, and now to July 10 — means the administration is working to ensure the agreement will have some congressional support.
"One of the reasons why we’re seeing this going into overtime is because Secretary (of State John) Kerry and Secretary (of Energy Ernest) Moniz have a very firm grasp on what it's going to take to have a defensible deal. And they should," New Mexico Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich told Politico.
"If it's a solid deal, I think we will have adequate support to make sure that it stands."
The review law means Congress can choose to vote on a resolution of approval or disapproval, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has supported having an approval vote — something not likely to make it through the Republican-controlled House and Senate — so as to give an "unmistakable signal about congressional opposition to lifting sanctions."
Cotton, meanwhile, said "there is no graver threat to national security" than a bad deal, and that Congress should use all its powers to stop a poor agreement from going through.
If the deal is reached on or by Thursday, Congress gets 30 days to review it. But if the agreement talks go past that date, the resolution will have a 60-day congressional review period. The approval or disapproval resolution will start with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On Tuesday, committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that he is looking forward to the deal, but urged negotiators to take their time, as he remains "very, very concerned about the trend, the direction, I've said this several times, the direction of these negotiations for some time. ... on these final points, you know, any time, anywhere inspections, please, yes, take your time and at least try to get these in the best place you possibly can."
Corker told Politico he has spoken privately with McConnell, and "discussed every option known to man," but still doesn't know what direction will be taken.
Republicans are not yet conceding that 34 or more Democrats will stand with Obama.
"I really think there’s a better than 50-50 chance that we’ll get enough 'no' votes," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. "If the Arabs come out and say this is a bad deal, if AIPAC says this is a bad deal, if public opinion says we don’t trust this deal, then our Democratic colleagues will hopefully come forward to say, 'We can do better.'"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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