Senate Republicans Monday took their fight for congressional approval of any nuclear deal with Iran to an unlikely source – the Tehran government.
Forty-seven Senate Republicans signed an open letter to Iran that says any nuclear deal that’s not approved by Congress is ‘nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei.’ The letter was first reported by Bloomberg View.
The letter is meant to discourage Iran and keep congressional pressure on President Barack Obama not to follow through on a yet-to-be-done deal that the U.S. and five other nations are negotiating with Iran.
In the letter, the senators provide a primer on how international agreements work in Washington.
‘First, under our Constitution, while the president negotiates international agreements, Congress plays the significant role of ratifying them,’ the letter states. ‘A so-called congressional-executive agreement requires a majority vote in both the House and the Senate (which because of procedural rules, effectively means a three-fifths vote in the Senate). Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement.’
The letter also warns that any nuclear agreement reached with the Obama administration might not be a lasting one.
‘The president may serve only two 4-year terms, whereas senators may serve an unlimited number of 6-year terms,’ the letter states. ‘As applied today, for instance, President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then – perhaps decades.’
Among the 47 senators who signed the letter were potential Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky. The letter effort was organized by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
‘I would encourage presidential candidates to join us,’ Cotton said Monday on ‘Fox & Friends.’ ‘I’ve spoken privately with other presidential candidates who might join us. And for that matter, I’d encourage Hillary Clinton to join us in saying that Congress must approve any nuclear deal with Iran.’
Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Il., called the letter ‘a cynical effort by Republicans to undermine sensitive international negotiations.’
‘...It weakens America’s hand and highlights our political divisions to the rest of the world,’ Durbin said in a statement Monday. ‘Understand that if these negotiations fail, a military response to Iran developling their nuclear capability becomes more likely. These Republican senators should think twice about whether their political stunt is worth the threat of another war in the Middle East.’
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly included Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio among the Republicans who didn’t sign the letter.