White House: Republicans trying to 'undermine' ObamaWhite House: Republicans trying to 'undermine' Obama
By Brian Hughes | April 6, 2015 | 1:20 pm
The White House accused Republicans Monday of trying to undermine President Obama with their call for an up-or-down vote on any nuclear deal finalized with Iran.
"It's Republicans who have been most forceful in denouncing this agreement and those are the people I'm referring to when I say they're trying to use this vote as cover to just try to undermine the agreement," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Last week, Obama hailed an "understanding" with Iran that would lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for the Middle Eastern nation curbing its nuclear capabilities.
However, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is attempting to forge a veto-proof majority in the Senate on legislation that would allow lawmakers to have the final say on a deal with Iran.
The White House insists that such a bill could effectively kill the nuclear deal and is scrambling to convince Democrats to refrain from supporting the legislation as the administration attempts to finalize the arrangement by the June 30 deadline.
Corker has said he is near the 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto.
However, as the White House tried to halt congressional efforts to review the deal Monday, it acknowledged that lawmakers would have to ultimately lift sanctions for the Iran agreement to work.
"Congress will at some point have to vote to remove the sanctions that they put in place," Earnest said, noting that Obama could only ease sanctions in the short term. "That is not something the president can do unilaterally."
