Senate Passes Bill to Review Iran Nuclear Deal

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that will give Congress a key stake in conversations on the pending nuclear deal with Iran.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have been pushing for oversight of the pending deal given that current proposals include relief from some of the sanctions placed on Iran by Congress. The bill that passed Thursday requires that Congress be able to review and possibly reject any deal the U.S. and world powers make with Iran regarding nuclear weapons. If Congress approves of the deal — or fails to disapprove within a certain timeframe — the President’s deal can move forward.

“No bill, no review. No bill, no oversight,” Sen. Bob Corker said on the Senate floor Thursday. “The American people want the U.S. Senate and House on their behalf to ensure that Iran is accountable.”

The effort to pass the deal, however, was hard wrought. Senators proposed a number of amendments to the bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell initially signaled would be up for a robust debate. On Thursday, lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement to proceed with a vote without many of the proposed amendments. The only “no” vote came from freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican.

The bill also faced backlash from the White House initially, but in mid April White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the President would be open to signing the compromise bill. The bill will now head to the House of Representatives for a vote.

While the debate continues, however, some lawmakers have signaled their support for the President’s negotiations with Iran. In a letter first reported on by the Washington Post, 150 Democrats urged Obama to “stay on course” and commended the work of world powers so far in the process.

“The stakes are too great and the alternatives are too dire,” the letter reads. “If the United States were to abandon negotiations or cause their collapse, not only would we fail to peacefully prevent the nuclear-armed Iran, we would make that outcome more likely.”

The Washington Post reports that the letter could mean the President has enough Congressional support to override a veto should lawmakers vote to reject the deal once it is released in June.