On Tuesday, the bill to allow congressional influence and oversight for the nuclear deal with Iran was unanimously passed by a Senate committee. After months of deliberation between Congress and the White House regarding negotiations with Iran, the White House said President Barrack Obama would be willing to accept a version of the deal that was unanimously passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.
The committee voted 19-0 in favor of the new measure. The new legislation states that Congress would have the opportunity to hold hearings and votes for a joint resolution in regards to the final agreement that President Obama will make with other parties of the Iran nuclear deal. Congress will have a review period of 30 days, another 12 days if a bill is passed, and an additional 10 if the President vetoes the bill.
Tuesday's bill also entails the President's responsibility to send detailed reports to Congress regarding Iranian activities including nuclear productivity, missile production, and involvement in terrorism.
The unanimous vote was encouraging for those worried about Congressional divide in the Iranian nuclear talks. "I think this is what the American people deserve and that is a United States Senate and hopefully House of Representatives, on their behalf, examining any final deal that may occur with Iran," said Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the committee. "We believe it is our role to make sure that any deal with Iran makes them accountable, is transparent and is enforceable," he said.
Prior to Tuesday, Congress was worried about its ability to weigh in on the nuclear deal. Currently, Iran is under sanctions that Congress put into place in the past. Some feared that the President would try to lift those sanctions in order to make a deal with the Iranian government.
"What I'm most proud of is we've kept the pure integrity of the process in place and the President cannot lift -- while Congress is reviewing this -- cannot lift the congressionally mandated sanctions, which is what they've been trying to do and push for over the past couple of weeks," said Corker.
