State officials responded to the president's announcement of a nuclear agreement with Iran on Tuesday.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-17), authored by Sen. Corker prevents the president from waiving sanctions on Iran or negotiating a final deal before Congress has a chance to vote on the agreement. Key provisions of the bill include: requiring the president to submit to Congress the full agreement; prohibiting the president from waiving sanctions on Iran while Congress is reviewing the agreement; giving Congress the ability to enact a joint resolution to prevent the president from waiving or suspending sanctions; requiring the president every 90 days to confirm that Iran is complying with the agreement; and requiring Iran to submit to more reporting requirements.
Senator Bob Corker said, “Throughout these negotiations, I have expressed significant concerns to the administration about the crossing of red line after red line as we have moved from a goal of dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities to managing its proliferation,” said Sen. Corker. “I want to read the agreement in detail and fully understand it, but I begin from a place of deep skepticism that the deal actually meets the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. In the coming days, Congress will need to scrutinize this deal and answer whether implementing the agreement is worth dismantling our painstakingly-constructed sanctions regime that took more than a decade to establish. Iran continues to be the lead sponsor of terrorism in the world and relieving sanctions would make the Tehran regime flush with cash and could create a more dangerous threat to the United States and its allies.
“Without the passage of our bill, Congress would have had no role in reviewing and voting on an agreement. Once the president submits to Congress all of the documents associated with this deal, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will conduct a rigorous review during which time congressional sanctions will remain in place. Whatever actions the House and Senate ultimately take, the American people will have a full and open debate that a national security issue of this magnitude deserves.”
Senator Lamar Alexander said, “I am very skeptical, but I will carefully review this complex agreement, listen closely to the Senate debate, and vote based upon what I believe will help keep our country safe.”
Congressman Fleischmann said, “President Obama has repeatedly said that no deal is better than a bad deal. It’s now up to Congress to make that determination. I plan to review this proposed deal in detail and determine if it will leave Iran with a clean path to a nuclear weapon. A nuclear-armed Iran poses a significant threat to the United States and an existential threat to Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East. It is simply a risk we cannot take and I will absolutely not support the deal if it compromises American security.”
Congressman Scott DesJarlais said, “The deal President Obama struck with Iran is one of appeasement that will only further embolden the nation’s terrorist ambitions. Allowing Iran to keep their reactors and centrifuges jeopardizes the safety of the United States and our most trusted allies in the region. We already know Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and should be treated as such. For the president to simply take Iran at their word is not only naïve, it is dangerous. The only acceptable path forward is one where we completely eliminate Iran’s ability to obtain nuclear weapons.”