Iran Bill to See a Heated Debate at the US Senate

The United States Senate will deliberate as soon as Wednesday on a legislation giving Congress the power to overview the Iran deal when it is presented by the White House in June, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The Foreign Relations Senate committee agreed on the legislation last week.

At first the United States president Barack Obama expressed his objection to any bill that would give the majority-Republican Congress a say in the Iran deal. That prompted the committee to reach a compromise over the bill and modify it in a way that the White House would be willing to accept.

The new version of the bill, passed by a 19-0 vote in the Senate's committee, shortens the time the Congress has to review the deal to 30 days instead of 60 days, and erases a clause requiring Obama to show that Iran has not sponsored terrorism against the United States. After the compromise by the Senate committee, Obama said that he would sign off on the bill as far as it did not jeopardize the deal  

The legislation came weeks after Iran and the world powers announced in Geneva a breakthrough in the negotiations over Teheran’s nuclear program.

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The legislation seems to be headed towards a heated debate as several Republican lawmakers are seeking to present amendments to the bill in order to take a harder line on the Iran deal.

As it considered the bill, the committee rejected an amendment from Republican Senator John Barrasso that would have restored the terrorism-related clause. Barrasso told Reuters he planned to reintroduce that amendment before the bill came up in the full Senate.

Two other Republican lawmakers, including the presidential candidate Marco Rubio, said that they were looking to include an amendment that would require Obama to demand as part of the deal that Tehran releases the Washington Post journalist currently in jail in Iran and facing espionage charges.

According to Reuters, a final vote on the bill is not expected before next week. This week, lawmakers will be debating the legislation and introducing different amendments to the bill. The Senate will then vote on which amendments to include or reject.

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