Corker-Menendez approved unanimously; Congressional review time reduced, terror provision removed

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a revised version of the Corker-Menendez bill this week, and the White House confirmed that President Obama would not veto the measure. The revised version differs from its predecessor in two main ways: the length of time for Congressional review is reduced and the terrorism certification provision is removed.

Background

Written by Sen. Bob Corker (R, Tenn.), the Corker-Menendez bill allows Congress to play a role both in approving a nuclear deal reached with Iran and in monitoring Iranian compliance with any deal. (Click here for Iran Matters’ review of the original version of the bill, and here for the full text of the revised bill.)

If a nuclear deal is reached with Iran, the bill requires the President to wait a set period of time before relaxing any sanctions, to give Congress an opportunity to review and cast a vote on the deal. Congress can vote to accept the nuclear agreement, reject the nuclear agreement, or take no action. If Congress accepts the agreement or takes no action, the President is free to relieve sanctions. If Congress rejects the agreement (by passing a joint resolution of disapproval), the President cannot relieve sanctions unless he vetoes the resolution and is able to avoid a veto override.

Change 1: Length of Congressional review

If Iran and the P5+1 reach an agreement, the previous bill required the President to give Congress 60 days to review the agreement, hold hearings, request additional information, and vote. In its revised form, that time period is reduced to 30 days.

But the revised bill tacks on several conditions (the chart below explains the following additions):

• If Congress rejects the agreement, the President still cannot waive sanctions while considering whether to veto the resolution (for a maximum of 12 days). And if the President vetoes Congress’s rejection, the President cannot waive sanctions for 10 additional days while Congress considers overriding the veto. In this scenario, sanctions cannot be relieved for a total of 52 days (30+12+10).
• Negotiators are working toward a July 1, 2015 deadline, but if an agreement is submitted to Congress between July 10 and September 7, the 30-day time period extends to 60 days. (Congress is on recess between August 10 and September 7.) In this scenario, it’s possible the moratorium on relieving sanctions could extend to 82 days (60+12+10).

*If the agreement is transmitted between July 10 and September 7, review period is increased to 60 days. (Note: Congress is on recess between August 10 and September 7.)

Change 2: Removal of terrorism certification

In addition to allowing for a Congressional vote, the bill also requires the President to submit reports to Congress documenting Iran’s compliance. One such report is a “compliance certification,” which the President must submit every 90 days; if he cannot make such a certification, the bill triggers expedited consideration of new sanctions.

In the previous version of the bill, the President was required to certify every 90 days that Iran “has not directly supported or carried out an act of terrorism against the United States or a United States person anywhere in the world.” The administration and other critics argued that this provision amounted to a “poison pill,” and that specific provision has been deleted.