Posted on 09/10/2015 1:55:23 PM PDT by markomalley
The White House insisted on Thursday that Congress has just one week to thwart the agreement between Iran and six world powers to curb its nuclear program under the timetable Congress established for reviewing the deal, despite new GOP arguments that the 60-day clock it has for reviewing the deal should never have started.
If Republican lawmakers are unable to secure a veto-proof majority rejecting the deal by then, the "international community" will begin implementing the accord, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday.
"[T]hey essentially had 60 days to play the spoiler," Earnest said about Republicans who want to jettison the deal that China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and the United States negotiated with Iran to stunt Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
Under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act passed in May, Congress had 60 days to weigh the contract and its annexes. But now that enough Senate Democrats support implementing the treaty to prevent Republicans from blocking it, House Republicans are considering suing the Obama administration to prevent the agreement from taking effect.
"[I]t's not a coincidence, that — what we've taken to the calling the 'Tortilla Coast' gambit — is something that emerged just hours after it became clear that this resolution of disapproval would not move through the United States Senate," Earnest said. He was picking up on his colleague Eric Schultz's description Wednesday that GOP lawmakers "hatched" the idea of a lawsuit over drinks at a well-known restaurant near the House office buildings.
"Now the House, again because of this plan, this gambit, has decided to abandon that approach and to consider three other pieces of legislation that the Senate has made pretty clear they're not going to consider," Earnest said about Speaker John Boehner's decision to first have his colleagues vote on a sure-to-fail resolution approving of the nuclear deal.
"[T]his obviously is not the first time we've seen Republicans who are unsuccessful in trying to prevent the president from doing something using their official duties as a member of Congress resort in desperation to a piece of litigation," Earnest said about the proposed lawsuit.
Earnest stressed that although the United Nations can begin following through with the agreement on Sept. 17, Tehran does not get relief from punishing economic sanctions until it lives up to its obligations.
"That means reducing their nuclear stockpile … rendering harmless their plutonium reactor at Arak; it means essentially disconnecting thousands of centrifuges; it means cooperating with the IAEA," Earnest said referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. "It's only after those steps have been taken and verified that the international community will move forward with offering sanctions relief to Iran."
Republicans would base their lawsuit on the grounds that they have not been given copies of the agreement documenting what the IAEA and Tehran worked out for exactly how inspections and verification of Iran's compliance will be carried out.
"If there's any member of Congress that says, 'well I would like to know what is in that agreement,' they can contact the administration and in an appropriate, classified setting can be briefed on the contents of that agreement," Earnest said about the ancillary documents. "There's no mystery to, at least to members of Congress with a security clearance, as to what's included in that agreement," he said.
I dismissed the GOP too. They are the reason this passed.
They gave up thier own power to stop this.
For what? Was it to make it a campaign issue?
I have written my two D Senators, one a Jew and both are voting for Obama, not America, but Obama. I really am done, rip America I am leaving.
Do you really think Mitt a Massachusetts Governor, Massachusetts the most liberal state ever, Barney Frank ring a bell? would have done much better in light of what we see the majority of R's doing in the house and Senate? Mitt implemented MittCare, the base of Obamacare. Mitt implemented same sex marriage in MA, higher taxes, a spendthrift and couldn't muster the courage to take out Obama in a campaign with all the lies and wrongs BO did. I honor my country and my vote, would never vote for a candidate like that, nor will vote for Bush if he is the nominee, got it?
I blame Obama over Romney for sure on the base that did not vote. Based on posts read during the 2012 elections many Christians were claiming to never vote for Romney.
Romney was no prize, but he was no Obama either.
Can we blame all the bad things on the people who voted stupidly or choose to not vote out of their pride for religious or other reasons?
I don’t even have to answer that do I?
I COMPLETELY agree, Smokin’ Joe. Thank you. Part of the problem is that so many people didn’t vote- which made the fraud easier, but seeing the numbers just really blew me away. And to this day, they STILL haven’t fixed it. Everybody knows it & the left just blatantly pushes to make it easier.
We need the ‘’purple thumb’’ thing here, but they won’t even do that.
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