Florida’s two U.S. senators–Marco Rubio and Rick Scott–are backing a proposal to ensure that any nuclear deal with Iran has to go through the U.S. Senate for approval.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., introduced the “Iran Nuclear Treaty Act.”
“This bill will give the American people a proper constitutional check by requiring that the president submit to Congress any renewed nuclear deal with Iran as a treaty. The Iran Nuclear Treaty Act would strengthen the role Congress plays by ensuring the advice and consent of the Senate is taken into account for a new nuclear agreement, as well as prevent waiving, suspending, reducing or limiting the application of sanctions on Iran before the Senate has concurred,” Johnson’s office noted.
“President Reagan was right when he said you achieve peace through strength. Unfortunately, our adversaries understand the Biden administration will chart the same weak and disastrous course as President Obama. It’s clear the Biden administration is in the business of appeasing adversaries like Russia, state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, and Iran’s terrorist proxies like Hamas. Instead of addressing the threats these actors pose, the administration will coddle the Iranian regime and ignore its malign activity throughout the region. Any potential agreement with Iran involves risks that affect our entire nation. It is critical to the security of America and to world peace that any deal Biden negotiates with Iran be deemed a treaty requiring approval by the U.S. Senate,” Johnson said last week.
Rubio and Scott joined more than 20 fellow Republicans in co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
“The Obama administration entered into a deal that emboldened an evil, anti-American regime in Tehran,” Rubio said. “While I hope the Biden administration doesn’t repeat this dangerous mistake, we need to make clear to them, and the entire world, that any new ‘Iran Deal’ must be ratified by the United States Senate.”
“Every day that Biden continues his feeble attempts to re-enter the failed Iran nuclear deal, American national security suffers. Iran is clearly our adversary and can’t be trusted. This legislation puts American interests first by mandating that President Biden receives the approval of the Senate before taking any action related to the disastrous Iran nuclear deal,” said Scott.
Scott doubled down on his support of the bill at the start of this week.
“Iran is our enemy and can’t be trusted,” Scott insisted on Sunday, adding he was “proud” to back the proposal.
Scott also pointed to China’s support of the deal.
“China’s advocacy for renewing the Iran Nuclear Deal is yet another warning sign that cannot be ignored by the Biden administration. This deal does nothing but help Iran – which supports Hamas and other terror groups seeking to destroy Israel and the U.S,” Scott noted.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Rubio sits, last week. So far, there is no companion measure in the U.S. House. With the Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, the bill is not expected to pass.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com
