WASHINGTON, D.C. – In remarks delivered on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, underscored the importance of allowing the current negotiations between the United States and its P5+1 partners and Iran to proceed unencumbered by partisanship and to judge any potential deal on its merits:

“The grave issue that faces this country and the entire world is the possibility of a regime such as that in Iran achieving nuclear weapons. This is not an ideological debate. This is a serious debate about the future of this country. It’s one of the most serious negotiations of our lives, and I want Congress to have a role – but I want it to play that role weighing the merits,” Senator King said on the floor. “…I want us to have that role, but I want to be sure that we can respond to that in a responsible way. And the actions of the last few days have frankly shaken that confidence because we have seen what appears to be an effort to gain political and partisan advantage from this gravest of national issues.”

Senator King’s remarks reference an open letter sent yesterday by 47 Senate Republicans to the leaders of Iran, which effectively argues that the President does not speak for the United States in these negotiations and that, unless Congress approves the agreement, it can be dissolved or rolled-back following the President’s term in office.

“To turn this into a partisan issue, I think, does a great disservice to this entire country. And to undercut the President in the last stages of the negotiations, to me, is just unprecedented and unthinkable,” Senator King continued. “I was a young man at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. I cannot imagine the Congress of the United States writing a letter to Khrushchev in the midst of those discussions and saying, ‘Don’t worry about this guy, Kennedy, he doesn’t speak for the country.’ And yet, that’s essentially what took place yesterday. I just don’t understand the need or the helpfulness of such a statement at a time when we were already moving toward a bipartisan – I believe, probably veto-proof – bill to provide this institution with a check on the quality of the deal that’s being struck. It’s just not productive and helpful to turn issues of this kind into partisan issues.”

Senator King is a cosponsor of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, bipartisan legislation that would mandate the President submit the text of any agreement to Congress and prohibit the Administration from suspending congressionally-mandated sanctions for 60 days. During that period, Congress would have the opportunity to hold hearings and approve, disapprove, or take no action on the agreement.

###