A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran’s leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama will not be valid after Obama leaves office in 2016, reports Josh Rogin on Bloomberg.
The letter was by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the Senate’s entire Republican leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
Rogin says the letter is meant “not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.”
“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”
“Iran’s ayatollahs need to know before agreeing to any nuclear deal that … any unilateral executive agreement is one they accept at their own peril,” Cotton told Rogin.
The new letter is the latest piece of an effort by Senators in both parties to ensure that Congress will have some say on whether a deal is signed.
