Members of Congress pushing for more pressure on Iran say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress Tuesday was helping to win over skeptical Democrats — until GOP leadership sought to approve a bill on the subject without committee participation.
The rancor over the move by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, to fast-track a measure demanding that the administration get congressional approval for any nuclear agreement with Iran intensified partisan divisions on the issue, raising questions about whether Congress will be able to offer any check on the administration’s deal-making with Tehran.
While McConnell’s aides have framed the move as taking advantage of a favorable political climate coming out of Netanyahu’s speech, both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill hoping to move forward with the bill say the move poisoned the well and undermined progress on getting Democrats to sign on.
Democrats see any move to put restrictions on Iran nuclear talks before the March 24 deadline for a framework to a deal as certain to undermine ongoing negotiations — and in turn humiliate Obama when talks ultimately fall through.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, who sponsored the bill along with Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, blasted McConnell’s action. He penned a letter along with 10 fellow Democratic supporters of the bill saying that they would oppose voting on it before March 24, a previously agreed-to deadline for the Obama administration to work out a framework deal with Iran and five other world powers.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a centrist Democrat and a co-sponsor of the bill, also expressed displeasure with McConnell, saying in a statement that “premature action … disrespects the ongoing work to build a broad coalition of colleagues in support of this bill.”
Though Kaine and Menendez are expected to still vote in favor of the bill if it is taken up after March 24, Democrats wary of signing on might be even more so.
President Barack Obama strongly objected to Netanyahu’s address and many in the chamber saw the prime minister’s appearance as partisan — it came at the invitation of Republican House Speaker John Boehner without a heads up to the White House, and gave a platform to a foreign leader for a speech strongly opposing the President’s Iran policy.
Democrats were already divided on whether to back to the Corker-Menendez bill, along with another bill providing for more sanctions on Iran after the March deadline. Obama has promised to veto both measures. The perceived insult to the president due to the speech and the sense that Republicans were holding it to further their partisan interest have added to Democratic hesitation on the measure.
But aides in both parties told CNN that the bipartisan team of negotiators working to rally support behind the Corker-Menendez bill — which many see as an easier political sell than the sanctions legislation — had been making progress towards the 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto before McConnell’s move.
Senate Democratic aides said they believe that disrupting Democratic support for the bill was McConnell’s aim all along — to again drive a wedge between the two parties on Israel, and make it seem as though Democrats aren’t as supportive of the Middle East nation and as tough on national security issues as Republicans.
“To yank the bill out of committee and rush it to the floor unilaterally with no input from the Democrats who have worked very hard on this issue makes it clear that Republicans are looking to score cheap political points instead of producing the bipartisan outcome that is Israel’s best interest,” said Adam Jentleson, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.
“That action, in the blink of an eye, undermines a tremendous amount of bipartisan effort to move the process forward in a way that kept Democrats and Republicans together,” one Democratic Senate aide close to the negotiations said.
“There is a universe, a growing universe of Democrats who are very comfortable taking some kind of action. But they don’t want to take the action in the midst of all this partisanship,” the aide added.
McConnell on Wednesday defended himself from attacks that he had motivated by partisan interests.
“There is nothing partisan about the Senate acting to serve its constitutional role in oversight, and in pursuing policies that uphold the national security interest,” he said, describing himself as “surprised” that senators who initially backed the legislation had now come out against it.
McConnell said “it makes obvious sense” to consider the bill before the deadline “because the Iranians need to know that congressional sanctions will not be lifted if a bad deal is reached.”
Corker’s aides declined to comment on McConnell’s move, but in a pointed statement Corker reaffirmed his commitment to sticking with the regular committee procedures on the bill.
“I am encouraged by the growing support for the bipartisan Corker-Menendez Iran bill and look forward to working through the committee process to build additional support,” he said.
Still, aides close to the negotiating process say they believe the bill still has a shot after the March 24 deadline for talks to yield a political framework for a deal.
“I do think it’ll move forward. I just don’t think it moves forward between now and the end of the deadline,” the Democratic aide said.