Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) slammed the Obama administration on Monday for backing a United Nations’s vote on the Iran nuclear agreement, citing “bipartisan skepticism” of the deal in Congress.
“It is inappropriate to commit the United States to meet certain international obligations without even knowing if Congress and the American people approve or disapprove of the Iran agreement,” the Tennessee Republican said. “There is bipartisan skepticism about whether this deal can prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and bipartisan concern over allowing the leading exporter of terrorism access to well over $100 billion in cash.”
{mosads}The chairman of the influential committee added that “the administration’s decision to endorse this agreement at the U.N. prior to a vote in Congress on behalf of the American people is contrary to the spirit of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.”
His comments came after the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed the Iran nuclear deal earlier Monday in a 15-0 vote.
The move threatens to antagonize a handful of Senate Republicans, including Corker, who are undecided on the deal, as well as key Democrats who remain skeptical. The vote has also drawn backlash from
all corners of the Republican conference, uniting leadership and the party’s 2016 candidates.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the majority whip, called the administration’s backing of the vote “an affront to the American people.”
“The administration is more concerned about jamming this deal through than allowing the scrutiny it deserves,” the Texas Republican said. “Congress will carefully examine this agreement and, regardless of what the U.N. believes, vote it down if it jeopardizes American security and paves the way for a nuclear-armed Iran.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is running for president, also called the vote “an affront to the American people,” addng that it is “further evidence of a weak president trying to sell a bad deal.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), another 2016 contender, pointed to the Iran vote as well as the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Cuba,
saying that the two events “leave no doubt that we have entered the most dangerous phase of the Obama presidency.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a leading critic of the Iran agreement, said the U.N. vote “undermines … our constitutional process.
“It is disappointing that the President has gone to the United Nations for approval of his dangerous Iran deal before hearing from the people’s representatives in Congress. This deal paves the way to nuclear weapons capability for a radical, anti-American, outlaw regime who has the blood of hundreds of our soldiers on their hands.”
Cotton earlier this summer spearheaded a controversial open letter to the leaders of Iran warning that a nuclear agreement could be rescinded by the next American president with a “stroke of the pen.”
— Updated at 1:54 p.m.
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