WASHINGTON — In a reprieve for President Obama, Democrats in Congress who support legislation that gives Congress the authority to review his emerging nuclear deal with Iran pledged Wednesday to wait to press their case until after a March 24 negotiating deadline between the two nations.

Angered by Republican efforts to speed action on bipartisan legislation that could tie Mr. Obama’s hands in the nuclear talks, the Democrats said they would withhold their votes on the bill until after the date set for reaching a political framework for a negotiated agreement with Iran.

The move by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey and eight other Democrats, as well as Senator Angus King, an independent of Maine, effectively freezes in place efforts to build a bipartisan coalition that would force a congressional review of any Iran deal.





Senator Robert Menendez wants Congress to have a say in any nuclear deal with Iran. Credit Mel Evans/Associated Press
The White House has said that the president would veto the congressional review legislation, which is co-sponsored by Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Mr. Menendez, the panel’s ranking Democrat. Their bill would require the president to submit any agreement to Congress and restrict his authority to waive sanctions for 60 days to give lawmakers time to weigh.

ut shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel finished his speech to Congress on Tuesday arguing against Mr. Obama’s proposed deal with Iran, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, moved to expedite a vote on the review bill. His maneuver sets the stage for a procedural vote on Tuesday.

The move took Democrats by surprise and triggered a backlash even among the measure’s strongest supporters. Mr. McConnell’s move “poisons the well,” Mr. Menendez said Wednesday. “There’s no reason to rush this to the floor unless you’re looking for a political process.”

In a letter to Mr. McConnell, Mr. Menendez and backers of the bill and a handful of other Democrats said the measure should go through the standard process of being considered and then voted on by a committee before being brought to the floor for a vote. Their opposition effectively guarantees defeat for Tuesday’s procedural maneuver, likely pushing off action on the measure until later this month.

“On a day defined by serious discourse about Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, at a moment when legislators are contemplating the most serious national security issue of our time, we are disappointed that you have proceeded outside of regular order which suggests that the goal of this maneuver is to score partisan political points, rather than pursue a substantive strategy to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” the senators wrote to Mr. McConnell.

“As a result of your actions, we will only vote for this bill after it has gone through the regular markup process in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and after the March 24th deadline for the political framework agreement,” they wrote, referring to the date when the United States and six other countries are aiming to reach a tentative deal.

The objections delayed but did not remove the obstacles facing Mr. Obama in winning a skeptical Congress’s acceptance of a deal with Iran. While he has broad authority as president to strike and implement such an agreement, Congress could handcuff his ability to do so by depriving him of the authority to lift sanctions imposed through legislation.

And with Democratic support growing for congressional input, Mr. Obama is facing the possibility that Republicans could eventually find enough support in his own party to override a veto and insist on oversight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/us/pol...f=politics&_r=0

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...that Republicans could eventually find enough support in his own party to override a veto and insist on oversight.

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McConnell couldn't find his ass if it were on fire. Anyone think he could get the Rat votes to override a veto?

Stinking traitors, every last one of them.

Damn them all to hell.

The GOPe probably held the oxygen mask for them.