◼ WASHINGTON EXAMINER EDITORIAL
As President Obama's negotiators met this April to continue discussions with Iran about its nuclear program, Secretary of State John Kerry was asked in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing whether the Obama administration would bring any deal it struck with Tehran for congressional approval. Kerry's answer was immediate and unequivocal.
“Well, of course, we’d be obligated to under the law,” Kerry said. “We would absolutely have to, and so clearly, what we do will have to pass muster with Congress. We well understand that.”
Six months later, the administration is less clear on the matter. Or maybe what's less clear is whether Kerry was sincere. The New York Times reports this week that administration officials are so eager to make a deal with the mullahs — whether or not it does “pass muster with Congress” — that “[i]f agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it.” In fact, Obama wants to prevent Congress from having any say in the matter “for years,” as one anonymous senior official put it.
The idea is to have Obama “temporarily” — which actually means “permanently but without formal congressional approval” — suspend sanctions against Iran. In exchange, Tehran would allow nuclear inspectors in and limit the number of nuclear centrifuges it has spinning.
Obama's trial balloon in a loyal media outlet this week suggests that he expects a deal that Congress would hate — one not in America's best interests. If so, it would not be the first time he was more inclined to side with Iran's government than with the overwhelming will of his own country's representatives on Capitol Hill....
American policy is not made by a single person acting unilaterally. The people also elect a legislative branch, the nearly unanimous input from which cannot be rendered meaningless by Obama's desire for a deal at any cost.
It's no surprise that Obama wants to sidestep Congress. He has done so repeatedly on less consequential matters, eliciting rebukes from the Supreme Court. Especially on a matter as serious as this one, he must do what his Secretary of State, on his behalf, promised, and bring any deal to Congress so that the people's representatives can decide.
