Corker: Bipartisan deal has been reached on Iran bill
US Republican Senator Bob Corker says he has struck a deal with Democrat lawmakers in the Senate that would allow Congress to review any nuclear agreement with Iran.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday afternoon (2:15 p.m. local time) on the Corker-Menendez bill that would prevent President Barack Obama from lifting sanctions against Iran until Congress reviews a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MSNBC network on Tuesday morning, “We have reached a bipartisan agreement that keeps the congressional review process absolutely intact, full of integrity.”
The Tennessee Republican has been negotiating with Democrat Senator Ben Cardin, ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The White House opposes any bill passed before June 30 - the deadline for Iran and the P5+1 to reach a final accord - and has repeatedly threatened to veto the Corker-Menendez legislation.
A framework nuclear agreement was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – in Switzerland on April 2. The two sides will now work to draw up a final accord by the end of June.
Corker said the deal he made with Democrats could lead to a strong bipartisan vote.
"I believe we’ve struck an exact right balance in the agreement that will be voted on today and I’m hopeful that we’re going to be very, very successful,” Corker told CNN.
Corker’s communication’s director said on Twitter that they had reached “an agreement on bill that keeps integrity of congressional review intact.”
Last week, Corker said that he is within a few votes of being able to override a presidential veto of his legislation.
He told Fox News on April 5 that the GOP-dominated Senate is only two or three votes short of the two-thirds votes required to override Obama’s potential veto.
Corker said he was working overtime to reach the veto-proof majority, talking to Democratic holdouts to get their votes.
The Obama administration wants the Republican-dominated Congress to postpone any vote on the Iran nuclear agreement until at least June 30.
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