Senators Bob Corker (R-TN), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, said Sunday on Fox News that the legislation that would force Preisdent Barack Obama to bring a deal on Iran's nuclear program before the Senate is close to achieving the support of a veto-proof majority.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, sponsored by US Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), would mandate that the president submit to Congress the text of any pact with Iran, and bar the administration from suspending congressional sanctions on Iran for 60 days.
“The White House has said that the president would veto the kind of legislation you're proposing,” noted interviewer Chris Wallace. “If he does, you don't need 51 votes or even 60 votes, you need 67 votes, which means 13 Democrats to override his veto. Do you have 67 votes?”
“Well, I don't know whether we have 67 votes or not,” Corker replied, “just with cosponsors and if every Republican supports it, we'll see how that all shapes out. But we've got 64 or 65 that we're aware of today if that were the case.”
Corker said it is “difficult for anyone to ascertain at this moment” just what the deal with Iran contains. In Iran, he noted, “they're reporting sort of the mirror image opposite of what's being reported here. And as you saw, Zarif has actually challenged Secretary Kerry for presenting talking points that only intended to cause Congress to be pleased.”
“So, look,” he said, “there's a lot of water that needs to go under the bridge here. Many, many details are unknown at this point. And so, I don't know how anyone could really ascertain whether this is something good or bad yet for the American citizenry.”
"That's why on behalf of the American people, Congress needs to be playing a role,” he added. “What the American people may not know right now, Chris, is there will be all kinds of classified annexes that are very important. They lay out the details as to how much of this is going to take place. And that's why it's so important that Congress play its rightful role in approving this prior to the congressionally mandated sanctions that we put in place are alleviated.”