House Overwhelmingly Passes Iran Deal Review Bill

Obama Expected to Sign Bill Giving Congress Oversight

In a 400-25 vote, the House of Representatives passed what is being called the “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act,” but which has since morphed into a bill demanding Congressional review of any nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1.

The Senate had passed the same language bill last week, and President Obama is expected to sign it. There had previously been veto threats surrounding attempts in the Senate to add amendments to it.

But the overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate made the bill, without any of the amendments, so veto-proof there was no point in the White House making further such threats.

This could make the final civilian nuclear deal with Iran much harder to reach, since negotiators will both have to envision what the US Congress will accept, and have to wonder whether the US negotiators are able to deliver anything they offer.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.