U.S. Senate Approves Bill to Review Nuclear Agreement with Iran by Overwhelming Majority

The United States Senate has approved a bill with a decisive majority of 98 votes in favor and only one against, allowing Congress to review any potential nuclear agreement with Iran. Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. According to reports, the bill passed in the Senate on Thursday, May 6, enables Congress to review any nuclear agreement with Iran within 30 days and reject it if necessary. Reuters reported that John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, is now 'eager' for the bill to be passed by the representatives as well. According to Mr. Boehner, the goal of Congress is to 'prevent a bad deal with Iran that paves the way for a nuclear-armed Iran, leads to a nuclear arms race in the region, and gives the Iranian government more power and legitimacy.' The bill approved on Thursday received support from senators of both the Democratic and Republican parties. The House of Representatives is expected to review the bill next week. The Associated Press described the overwhelming 98 to 1 Senate vote as a victory for American lawmakers in their showdown with the Obama administration, which initially threatened to veto any such bill. The only senator who voted against the bill was Tom Cotton, a Republican senator who is a staunch opponent of the nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated after the bill's approval, 'We worked hard to gain extraordinary bipartisan support.' If the bill is finally approved, it will prevent the Obama administration from reducing sanctions against Iran during the review period of the potential final agreement and will require it to report to Congress every 90 days on Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement. Lawmakers will also have the opportunity to vote on whether to lift or maintain congressional sanctions. If Congress opposes the final nuclear agreement, the President of the United States will have 12 days to veto it, but even then, Congress will have another 10 days to override the President's veto.