Senators reached a bipartisan deal Tuesday to force any final Iran nuclear deal to be submitted to Congress as lawmakers took the first real steps to curb President Obama’s foreign policy negotiations.
Under the terms of the deal, which cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a unanimous vote, the administration couldn’t lift any of the sanctions Congress has placed on Iran’s nuclear program until he presents all the details to Capitol Hill, and gives Congress a chance to have a say. IfCongress doesn’t act, Mr. Obama can lift the sanctions on his own.
Lawmakers said that means they aren’t prejudging the deal, which Mr. Obama’s team is still negotiating with Iran, racing a self-imposed end-of-June deadline to flesh out the details of the framework that all sides reached earlier this month.
A chastened White House, which had earlier threatened vetoes of bills that might constrain the president, said Mr. Obama could accept the new restraints, saying they don’t believe the bill would disrupt the negotiations midstream since it only gives Congress a crack once the president’s team finishes its work.
“They’ve relented,” said Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate committee, who said the White House had seen it was going to suffer an embarrassing loss if it continued to oppose the bill.
Both supporters and skeptics of the framework Mr. Obama announced in early April said they can back the legislation, saving potential battles over support for Israel for an eventual floor fight. But it was not without worries from Republicans who said they feared Congress was ceding still more legislative authority to Mr. Obama.
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