Despite Secretary Kerry’s plea urging Congress to give the administration more time to secure a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons’ ambition, the House on Monday was not satisfied.
Kerry’s pitch, marked the first time administration officials meet face-to-face with House lawmakers since a framework deal was announced April 3. 
“Based on the briefing we had, my serious concerns about this deal with Iran have only been reinforced,” Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), the Republican whip, said afterwards.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, agreed. 
“What I heard was an administration very much in a selling mode,” he said. “A lot of people have a lot of questions – and they gave some information, I don’t mean they didn’t – but it was very much in a hard-sell sort of approach, and I think they would have been more persuasive if they had kind of not been so much.” 
The Republicans are lining up behind legislation that would empower Congress to review any nuclear deal with Iran before it’s finalized. A Senate proposal, sponsored by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), is slated for a panel vote on Tuesday and appears to have enough Democratic support to defeat a filibuster if it reaches the floor.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday that he’ll take up Corker’s bill if it passes the upper chamber. 
“If he is able to get his agreement out of the Senate, it is my intention to bring it to the floor of the House and move it,” McCarthy said.
The ultimate fate of the legislation could rest on the Democrats. President Obama has vowed to veto the Corker bill, but it remains unclear if Republicans can find enough Democratic support to override that veto.