Rick Perry forcefully defended the controversial letter Senate Republicans wrote to Iran warning that any nuclear agreement must be approved by Congress.
He said an unsatisfactory deal would by scrapped if a Republican is elected president in 2016. Perry is considering a run for the White House himself and made the comments during an appearance in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
“I support a clear message that the United States as a body and certainly the next president of the United States is not going to be held accountable by this president signing an agreement that I don’t think is in the United States’ best interest and certainly not in Israel’s best interest,” the former Texas governor said at a Politics and Eggs breakfast at Saint Anselm College.
Perry declared earlier this week that he would sign the letter, joining 47 Senate Republicans and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Among the Senate signatories are four other White House hopefuls: Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.
Kicking off a two-day swing through New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first presidential primary in early 2016, Perry blasted the Obama administration for its role in trying to reach a deal that Republicans argue won’t go far enough.
“I think the president is making an error,” Perry said. “There are things that are too important that we cannot compromise our principles.”
Secretary of State John Kerry hit back at Republicans on Wednesday, arguing in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that the group of lawmakers undermined the president and broke from “more than two centuries of precedent” by directly reaching out to the country.
Perry praised Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who spearheaded the effort to articulate that Congress must approve any treaty. “(Cotton) basically could have just clipped out the United States Constitution and sent it to Iran, because that’s basically what he was telling them.”
The White House, however, argues that it’s a “nonbinding agreement,” rather than a “treaty.”