Backers of Senate Iran nuke bill swat away amendments

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Senate proponents of a bill empowering Congress to review and potentially reject any Iran nuclear deal must first win a battle with some colleagues determined to change the legislation in ways that could sink it.

“Anybody who monkeys with this bill is going to run into a buzz saw,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned ahead of this week’s debate.

The high-profile debate comes as negotiators from the U.S. and five other nations are rushing to finalize, by the end of June, an agreement requiring Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions choking its economy.

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart plan to meet today for the first time since they laid out the framework for a nuclear deal earlier this month. The State Department said Kerry and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif would meet at the United Nations on the sidelines of a conference on the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.

Another member of Congress trying to discourage any changes in the bill was Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who urged senators to stick with the plan as it emerged from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The bill was approved, 19-0, by the Senate committee and has 62 co-sponsors from both parties.

Some lawmakers, however, want changes that could cost them the support of President Barack Obama, who grudgingly backed the measure, and his fellow Democrats.

If there is a final deal with Iran, Obama can use his executive authority to ease some sanctions on his own and work with the European Union and the United Nations to lift others. Obama also can waive sanctions that Congress has imposed on Iran, but he cannot formally lift them.

The bill would block Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers weigh in.