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In Budget Bill, Congress Moves to Boost Oversight of Iran Talks

by TheTower.org Staff |

A critical bill that Congress passed late last week ahead of its winter recess contains a rider that would give Congress increased oversight over talks with Iran as the Islamic Republic continues to negotiate with the P5+1 powers over its nuclear program. The rider, attached to the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2015, which will allow the government to stay funded through September 2015, will, per The Times of Israel, “require the administration to report to Congress every 30 days regarding Iran’s compliance with the terms of the interim plan as well as offer an assessment of the state of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Foundation for Defense of Democracies Executive Director Mark Dubowitz on Friday called on Congress to “defend the sanctions house it built” by designing what he called a “sanctions firewall” that would “signal to the administration how much it can give up in the negotiations and, after a nuclear deal is reached, help the administration enforce it (even if it is not inclined to do so) against Iranian noncompliance.”

Audio surfaced in October of Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes telling a group of staffers and progressive groups in January that the White House was already making plans to freeze Congress out of Iran negotiations, heightening tensions on Capitol Hill in the weeks before Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Vienna for nuclear talks.

Lawmakers have for months pushed for increased congressional oversight over negotiations, following promises made by the administration as far back as November 2013, when the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) was inked in Geneva, to work with Congress to impose new sanctions on Tehran in the event that a deal was not reached. The parties had in July agreed to extend talks through November, and were unable to reach a final agreement by the November 24th deadline. Diplomats involved in the talks announced last month that negotiations would continue through mid-2015, and talks are expected to resume next week in Geneva.

[Photo: Roll Call / YouTube]

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