GOP presidential hopefuls back Senate letter to Iran

Republican presidential hopefuls expressed their support Tuesday for the controversial open letter to Iran signed by 47 Republican senators.

Four potential Republican presidential candidates, Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), have already signed the letter, which warns that any nuclear program deal President Obama strikes with Iran could be at risk once he leaves the White House.

On Tuesday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal became the first potential Republican presidential contender outside Washington to add his name to the list. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry quickly followed suit, announcing over Twitter he would be “proud and honored” to be represented on the letter.

{mosads}Two top-tier candidates — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — expressed their support for the move to challenge Obama’s negotiating authority but stopped short of signing on.

“Republicans need to ensure that any deal President Obama reaches with Iran receives congressional review,” Walker said in a statement. “Unless the White House is prepared to submit the Iran deal it negotiates for congressional approval, the next president should not be bound it. I will continue to express that concern publicly to the President and directly to the American people.”

Bush said the Obama administration forced the hands of the Republican senators by negotiating a bad deal with the Iranians.

“The Senators are reacting to reports of a bad deal that will likely enable Iran to become a nuclear state over time,” Bush said in a statement. “They would not have been put in this position had the Administration consulted regularly with them rather than ignoring their input.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum also weighed in, saying he was “grateful that the U.S. Senate is exercising their constitutional prerogative to stop this reckless diplomacy by the Obama-Kerry-Clinton foreign policy team.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who spearheaded the letter, is calling on all of the potential 2016 presidential contenders to add their names to the letter.

The White House is furious with Senate Republicans, accusing them of going through backchannels to undermine Obama’s foreign policy agenda.

The Democratic National Committee will seek to tie all of the GOP presidential hopefuls to the controversial open letter, according to talking points obtained by The Hill.

“We’ve already seen top GOP presidential contenders sign their names to this letter and can expect the rest of the field to join them in supporting a tactic that does nothing but damage our diplomatic process abroad,” the DNC talking points say.



“The questions everyone should be asking these presidential hopefuls is, do they support these kinds of tactics that undermine the President’s ability to advance our national interests around the world, and would they support these kinds of tactics from a Democratic Senate if they were sitting in the Oval Office?” the memo continues.

The DNC talking points signal a larger push by Democrats to make an issue out of congressional Republicans’ aggressive tactics on foreign policy heading into 2016.