By Alexander Bolton - 03-15-15 09:41 AM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday defended signing a controversial letter to Iran’s leaders by arguing that Republicans need to put the brakes on what he called a “very bad” nuclear deal with Iran.
“The president is about to make what we believe will be a very bad deal. He clearly doesn’t want Congress involved in it at all and we’re worried about it,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
McConnell pointed out that former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) flew to Moscow in 1979 during the Carter administration to explain to Russian officials that the Senate could block the Salt II nuclear treaty, then under discussion.
He also recalled that then Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) flew to Nicaragua 1980s to meet with the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and accuse the Reagan administration of terrorism.
Senate Republicans have been hit with strong criticism from the administration and Democrats for meddling in the talks with Iran but McConnell dismissed it.
“I don’t think it was a mistake. It’s no more unusual than Robert Byrd going to Moscow or John Kerry going to Managua,” he said.
McConnell said it was appropriate to inform Iranian leaders that Congress will act on Iran’s nuclear program.
He said the Senate will soon vote on a bill giving Congress oversight of any deal struck with Iran or, in the absence of a deal, will vote to re-impose tougher sanctions on the country.
Forty-seven Republican senators sent a letter to Iran's regime on March 9 warning that if Congress to does not ratify the nuclear deal, it would serve only as an executive agreement that could be revoked by a future president.
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