US House Passes Bill for Congress to Review Iran Nuclear Deal

Local Editor

The US Congress sent President Barack Obama a bill to give lawmakers the power to review and potentially reject a nuclear deal with Iran.

The House overwhelmingly passed the measure, 400-25, a reflection of lawmakers' insistence on having a say in what could be a significant international accord to get Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Further, getting a deal would enhance Obama's foreign policy record, and while the Republican-led Congress doesn't want to see a nuclear-armed Iran, they were skeptical about Iranian compliance and had demanded time to review the fine points of any agreement the White House reached with Tehran.

Presidential spokesman Josh Earnest said again that Obama would sign the bill into law.

Moreover, negotiators from the US and five other nations were rushing to reach a deal with Tehran by the end of June. As the House voted, Obama met at the Camp David presidential retreat with Arab leaders in hopes of convincing them that US overtures to Iran would not come at the expense of commitments to their security in the region.

However, the Iran nuclear legislation would bar Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers examine any final deal. The bill would stipulate that if senators disapproved of the deal, Obama would lose his current power to waive certain economic penalties Congress had imposed on Iran.

The bill, which was passed last week by the Senate on a 98-1 vote, would require Congress to pass a resolution of disapproval to reject the deal, an action that Obama almost certainly would veto. Congress then would have to muster votes from two-thirds of each chamber to override the veto.

Even if Congress rejected his final nuclear deal with Tehran, however, Obama could use his executive pen to offer a hefty portion of sanctions relief on his own. He could take unilateral actions that - when coupled with European and UN sanctions relief - would allow a deal to be implemented.

Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, backed the measure, saying it would strengthen the US negotiating position with Tehran.

Also Thursday, the House considered a defense policy bill that authorizes US military spending, with a final vote expected Friday. Obama had threatened to veto the House bill, which historically had garnered overwhelming bipartisan support.

Accordingly, the same approach to authorizing defense spending was taken Thursday on the Senate side, and garnered the same opposition from Democrats.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team