Senate Iran vote unlikely until after August recess

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Tuesday that the Senate would likely vote after the August recess on the Iran nuclear deal. 

“Likely, what we’ll do is vote on this when we return from recess,” Corker told reporters. 

That would push any vote in the Senate until at least Sept. 8, when Congress returns to Washington after a month-long break.

{mosads}The Tennessee Republican said that the Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs, would start also holding hearings “in the next two or three weeks.”

Corker said that lawmakers are still waiting for the administration hand over classified portions and certifications of the agreement, adding that “we expect to receive those materials over the next several days.”

Corker suggested that he would withhold final judgement on the deal until he has had time to review it, but added that “the agreement has taken a downward trend.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) added that the Armed Services Committee would hold separate hearings, focusing on verifying that Iran is complying with a long-term agreement. 

Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added that lawmakers will be briefed by the administration and that those talks will be “extensive in nature.”

Pushing a Senate vote on the Iran nuclear deal until September would give opponents of the deal more time to mobilize and pressure Democrats to buck the administration. 

But Democrats have brushed aside questions about if they are concerned about allowing for a 60-day review, compared to the 30-day review.

“They’re going to need some time to get members of Congress, especially their friends, comfortable with the detailed inspection regime,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters late last week. “This isn’t the Affordable Care Act. There are unlikely to be town halls full of thousands of people talking about the Iran nuclear negotiations.”