The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives will vote on legislation to disapprove of the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran when lawmakers return to Washington in September, party leaders said on Tuesday.
“This deal gives up too much, too fast, to a terrorist state – making the world less safe, less secure, and less stable,” said Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who introduced the disapproval resolution.
Under the Iran Nuclear Review Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in May, the Republican-led Congress has until Sept. 17 to approve or disapprove of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers announced on July 14.
A disapproval resolution could cripple the agreement by eliminating Obama's ability to temporarily waive most U.S. sanctions, and Obama has promised a veto if a resolution passes Congress.
Lawmakers could have opted to vote on a non-binding approval resolution, or done nothing and let the deal go ahead.
The top Republican in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, said the Senate is also likely to consider a resolution of disapproval of the nuclear deal.
But Obama's diplomatic initiative won important support on Tuesday among his fellow Democrats, increasing the chances that supporters of the deal would be able to sustain Obama's promised veto.
Democratic Senators Tim Kaine, who co-authored the legislation giving Congress the right to review the deal, Barbara Boxer, a senior Jewish member of the Senate, and Bill Nelson, whom some observers had considered a potential swing vote, all announced they would back the deal.
“As dangerous a threat as Iran is to Israel and our allies, it would pale in the threat posed to them and to us by a nuclear-armed Iran,” Nelson said in a Senate speech announcing his support, although he said that could change if there were an unforeseen development between now and September.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly opposes the nuclear agreement, calling it a threat to the survival of the Jewish state. Some pro-Israel groups have been lobbying intensely against the agreement, increasing pressure particularly on Jewish lawmakers.
Congress will have only about two weeks to debate and vote on a disapproval resolution after they return from their August recess. The House left Washington last Wednesday and the Senate is due to depart at the end of this week.
