The opponents of President Barack Obama’s approaching deal with Iran over curbing its nuclear program have launched their first trial balloon Monday, and it was expertly shot down by the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee.
Corker-Cardin is a bipartisan bill aiming to provide Congress with a major oversight role in the anticipated Iran nuclear program deal. It passed through committee by a 19-0 vote earlier in April, and now it’s time for amendments, so now, as the National Journal puts it, Chairman Corker and Ranking Member Ben Cardin are busy keeping “poison pills at bay that could jeopardize Democratic support and the White House’s reluctant pledge to sign the bill.”
The Senate voted 39-57 on Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) amendment, requiring that the final deal with Iran be given the status of a treaty and as such would be subject to the Senate’s approval.
Foreign Relations committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told The Hill the amendment would have destroyed the Senate’s “ability to have any say-so in one of the biggest geopolitical events of our time. The effect is we would have no role if we were to pass this amendment by Johnson, a friend of mine — we will have no role in this.”
The White House has threatened that the President could change his mind on giving Congress a seat at the table if Corker-Cardin dares to give Congress the power to impose tougher conditions on Iran, in exchange for removing economic sanctions.
Senator Ben Cardin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dora and Meyer M. Cardin (Kardonsky). Cardin and his family attend the Modern Orthodox Beth Tfiloh synagogue near their home, where the Cardins have been members for three generations. The late Meyer Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1935 to 1937, and later sat on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City from 1961 to 1977.