The Hill – 04/19/2015 – Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) argued Sunday that a bill passed to allow Congress to review terms reached with Iran on its nuclear program would strengthen President Obama’s hand at negotiating a final deal.
“I think the president is in a stronger position, now, to deliver the type of diplomatic solution that prevents Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state,” Cardin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Obama, who long pushed back against congressional action amid the Iran talks, said Friday he would sign the bill that passed out of committee unanimously, arguing it would not “derail” negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and was a “reasonable compromise.”
“Assuming what lands on my desk is what Sens. Corker and Cardin agreed to, I will sign it,” Obama said during a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Cardin, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, brokered the compromise with the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who also appeared on the CNN program.
Corker argued Sunday the legislation was necessary, and that without it Congress would have never seen the details of a deal, between the U.S. and five world leaders with Iran, until it was already signed.
He noted that there are a “lot of questions right now” and suggested negotiators were “teasing out the details” of a final deal, which U.S.-led negotiators hope to secure by a June 30 deadline.
If approved by the House and Senate, the bill would allow Congress to review any deal reached with Iran before allowing sanctions to be lifted. The bill that passed through committee shortened the time Congress can review a bill, from 60 days to now 30 days.
“I think it’s very important the sanctions be phased, so that we know how Iran is behaving,” Corker said of a potential deal, also suggesting that Iranian negotiators aren’t privy to all details of their nuclear program.
Cardin also noted last week’s committee vote was “not a vote on the merits of an agreement,” which is still being negotiated.