White House Issues Saturday Night Iran Deal Warning To Senate

[sheshe2]

Coming just days before the March 24 deadline for a political framework for the final nuclear agreement, the Saturday night letter -- three pages, single spaced, in length -- is the latest indication of rising tensions between the White House and the Hill. At times assertive and, at others, combative, the letter warns Corker that his bill, which would give Congress the right to vote up or down on the final nuclear agreement, would cripple U.S. negotiators and lead Iran and international negotiating partners to question the U.S.' ability to follow through on its end of the bargain.

It comes after months of Congress trying to insert itself into the negotiations between Iran, the U.S. and five partner countries. While the White House maintains it is nearing an agreement that will ensure Iran’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, lawmakers have insisted that President Barack Obama is prepared to sign a “bad deal" that will leave too much of Iran’s nuclear facilities intact, allowing it to covertly develop a nuclear weapon. These concerns have been echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, against the wishes of the White House, delivered a contentious speech on the House floor, warning that the current deal will “all but guarantee” Iran nuclear weapons.

Matters came to a climactic point this past week, when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) drafted a letter, signed by 46 other Republican senators, to Iranian leadership. The letter warned that any agreement could easily be reworked by Congress, or even overturned by a future president. The White House and Democratic lawmakers slammed the letter as a blatant attempt to undermine negotiations and the credibility of the White House.

Notably absent from the signatories was Corker, who had been trying to recruit Democratic senators to build a veto-proof majority for his bill. Cotton's letter appears to have complicated those efforts. McDonough's letter -- from a wildly different philosophical vantage point -- is designed to shelve it entirely.

"The Administration's request to the Congress is simple: let us complete the negotiations before the Congress acts on legislation," writes McDonough. "We understand that Congress will make its own determinations about how to respond, but we do not believe that the country's interests are served by congressional attempts to weigh in prematurely on this sensitive and consequential ongoing international negotiation aimed at achieving a goal that we all share: using diplomacy to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/14/white-house-iran-deal-_n_6870992.html

[spanone]

1. the President is the fucking President. corker & cohorts need to learn this.

[Scootaloo]

2. They're terrified of success

To quote Uncle Joe, "this is a big fuckin' deal!" and it will be an historical achievement.

Not only do the right want to sabotage any peace with Iran just on principle, but they want to scuttle the president as well. All it'll cost is our international relations, no big deal, right?

[Rex]

3. The RWing seems lost to their own grand delusions. Too many years of lies and dead bodies.

For a group of people that practically installed a holy king and religious council of judges, the GOP sure does act like someone else is to blame for Iran being a fundamentalist hellhole.

They gave Iran blueprints to make a nuclear weapon, they gave Iran weapons in exchange for drugs. You would think the GOP would have summer homes in Iran.

[ReRe]

4. The RWing needs to look in the mirror. n/t

[Rex]

8. That's part of the problem, vampires don't cast a reflection. nt

nt

[ReRe]

14. They ARE long in the tooth...

[DeSwiss]

5. Racism is a bitch, aint it?

- He should just call them out for what they are and be done with it.

K&R

[napkinz]

9. from Andy Borowitz

[FourScore]

13. LOL! Love Andy Borowitz! n/t

[herding cats]

6. I'm glad to see this, it wont be enough to keep Corker's bill from getting close to veto proof

But it may be the just the whip crack needed to keep it from reaching 67 votes.

Politics are exhausting me lately. There's some very high stakes issues on the table and we're surrounded by warmongers and fools.

[Major Hogwash]

7. The GOP controlled Senate has managed to make themselves irrelevant for the next 2 years.

McConnell should be proud, he can't get a damn thing done without President Obama's approval.

[sheshe2]

12. You are right about that, Major.

The GOP controlled Senate has managed to make themselves irrelevant for the next 2 years.

Two years is great, yet I am hoping that they make themselves irrelevant for all eternity. They sure as hell are trying hard to make it so.

[napkinz]

10. posted by Segami

see http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026367338


posted by malaise



see http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026340867

[sheshe2]

11. Perfectly clear. napkinz.

The 47 are traitors, every last one of them.