The Obama administration is pushing back against a bipartisan group of senators after they introduced anew sanctions bill against Iran on Thursday.
At a briefing with journalists, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the president would veto the bill if it were passed today.
The bill would trigger new sanctions against Iran should six months pass without a comprehensive agreement with world powers ending its nuclear program.
A veto threat by the president is rare and powerful, but in this case unnecessary: the legislation is unlikely to pass, as it is unlikely to see a vote in the first place.
The decision to move forward with the bill by its authors— Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, a Democrat, and Mark Kirk, a Republican— may be more political than practical. With just days left in the congressional session before members recess for the holiday, they have no realistic chance of getting a vote before the new year.
That means they will have to reintroduce the bill next session for a vote, calling in to question why the bill was introduced on Thursday. Procedurally, the Senate authors would need to clear the bill by consent, or invoke Senate Rule 14, which requires a schedule change with two days notice that the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, would be unlikely to approve even if it made a difference.
Nevertheless, Menendez and Kirk did whip the support of 24 cosponsors across party lines in short order, JPost informs.
