My vote to stop the Iran deal

This week the House voted on three bills to stop President Obama’s atrocious Iran nuclear agreement. These bills make clear that the American people, acting through their elected representatives, reject the President’s capitulation to Iran. America’s next President can -- and should -- end the agreement on Day One and restart the most effective sanctions regime ever created. The Iran deal will endanger the security of America and our closest allies and partners, as I have explained at length (here and here).

President Obama should have submitted the deal to the Senate for ratification as a treaty. Lacking a sufficient majority in the Senate, he instead opted to sign a non-binding political agreement with Iran.

Despite the President’s desire to avoid any congressional review, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and the President signed, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, known as the “Corker-Cardin” bill, which established a formal congressional review and approval process.

Corker-Cardin required the Administration to give Congress all documents related to the Iran deal. Despite repeated requests, President Obama still has not provided Congress with side agreements signed between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These two side deals govern how IAEA inspectors will verify Iranian compliance with the agreement. Press reports indicate that the side deals permit Iran to “self-inspect” its nuclear facilities in some cases. The Obama Administration’s characteristic refusal to follow the law effectively undermined the congressional review process he signed into law.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine

I voted for House Resolution 411, which finds that the President did not comply with Corker-Cardin by refusing to hand over the side deals. H. Res 411 passed 245 – 186. I voted for HR 3460 which suspends the President’s ability to lift U.S. sanctions on Iran until the next President is sworn in. It passed 247 – 186. Finally, I voted against HR 3461, a bill to approve the Iran deal. It failed 162 (for) – 269 (against) – 1 (present).

President Obama would undoubtedly veto any legislation that rejects his Iran agreement. This week, however, the House voted to remove the American people’s fingerprints from the Iran deal. We are not complicit in the President’s bad deal.

We signaled to Iran, our allies, and the world that the Obama-Iran agreement has no support and the next President should end it immediately. Regrettably, Senate Democrats initiated a filibuster to block consideration of the deal. Harry Reid and his colleagues decided it was more important to protect the President than to allow the people representation in this critical national security decision.