House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) is expected to unveil a new plan for opposing President Obama’s Iran deal, extraneous to the review process drafted by Senator Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and Senator Ben Cardin (D., Md.) and passed in May.
A House Republican passed along an e-mail detailing the new plan, which was to be unveiled during a special GOP conference meeting in the Capitol basement, currently in progress.
“1. A vote on a measure asserting that the president has failed to give Congress the required background on his Iran Deal,” the e-mail says. “2. A vote on a bill to prevent the president from lifting the Iran sanctions. 3. A vote of approval on the Iran Deal, which will force Democrats to cast a vote in support of what the president is doing.”
A photograph taken inside the conference meeting and obtained by NR confirms the plan described in the e-mail.
The e-mail does not say if GOP leadership might revert to the original Iran review process, which created a means by which Congress would vote on a resolution of disapproval that Obama could veto. The first step of this new plan forms an exit ramp from the previous process because that legislation required Obama to present the Iran deal in its entirety, including any side agreements, to Congress before the lawmakers were to vote on a resolution.
Because the president allowed Iran to negotiate side agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency, opponents of the deal have argued that he failed to comply with the Corker-Cardin process. “What that means is that all that has to happen is for Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to say, ‘The congressional review period has not started. Under federal law it is illegal for Obama to lift sanctions,’” Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) argued during a rally at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon. “Mitch McConnell and John Boehner can stop this deal if they simply enforce federal law.”
— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.
Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated since its initial publication.