More HERESen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) is threatening to scuttle a newly authored Senate measure that would give lawmakers a final say on any deal the Obama administration strikes with Iran over its contested nuclear program, according to Senate insiders tracking the debate.Menendez is seeking to stop a vote on a new measure authored by Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) that would give Congress the authority to reject any agreement signed between the Obama administration and Iran regarding its nuclear program.
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
Not only would Obama be crazy to sign a bill like that, Republicans would be stupid to ask him to.
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution is pretty clear on the question at hand. The Senate (and not Congress) must provide advice and consent on treaties, not agreements. For that reason, it would never survive a court challenge, if by some miracle it manage to override a veto.
Passing and signing this monstrosity would be a precedent that the GOP would surely come to regret, since roughly 90% of their caucus wants to invade about 50% of the world's landmass (John McCain alone is only record advocating attacks on over half a dozen countries - including nuclear ones - in the last five years.)
As I remember it, Republican presidents really don't have much use for Congress in the conduct of foreign affairs. Do you think they really want to submit every status of forces agreement they sign for ratification by both houses of Congress? How about intelligence sharing agreements with less than savory nations?
Finally, given recent reports on Israel's level of spying against the United States (http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-spying-us-alarming-level-133658376.html), I'd put the entire mess of a bill on ice for a good long time just on principle.
If Obama does sign this, he's every bit as weak as the GOP says he is.