ICYMI: “Senators Endorse Iran Sanctions in Budget Vote”

Senate Agrees: Iranian Regime Must Be Held Accountable If It Cheats on Nuclear Agreements

Kirk Amendment Passed in a 100-0 Vote

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) yesterday celebrated the Senate’s unanimous 100-to-0 vote to pass his bipartisan budget amendment to impose sanctions on Iran. Kirk Amendment #545 to the Senate Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 11) supports the Kirk-Menendez principle of immediately re-imposing waived sanctions and imposing new sanctions if Iran cheats on the interim nuclear deal or a final nuclear deal. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, co-sponsored the Kirk amendment, which draws language directly from the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015 (S. 269), co-authored by Senators Kirk and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

Below are excerpts from Agence France-Presse, The Hill, Roll Call and Politico on Senator Kirk’s amendment and efforts to hold Iran accountable for its actions during the nuclear negotiations.

AFP: U.S. Senate Threatens Iran with New Sanctions

… With Thursday’s vote, the first on the Senate floor since talks began early last year, the measure’s author intends to hold his colleagues to account.

“If we find out that there’s further development in the Iran nuclear program, it will allow me to remind 100 senators that they voted with me today,” Kirk told AFP.

The Hill: Senators Endorse Iran Sanctions in Budget Vote

Senators unanimously approved an amendment Thursday that backs bolstering sanctions against Iran if President Obama can’t verify that the country is following a nuclear deal.

The final amendment supports reimposed and new sanctions against Iran if Obama “cannot make a determination and certify that Iran is complying” with an agreement.

Kirk is behind a separate piece of legislation that would ratchet up sanctions against Iran. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said earlier this week that lawmakers would take up that bill if a deal isn’t reached.

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Roll Call: Deal on Kirk’s Iran Amendment Leads to Unanimous Vote

As evening approached in the Senate’s budget vote-a-rama, lawmakers found some common ground on Iran. A 100-0 vote followed.

Sen. Mark S. Kirk (R-Ill.), and Banking Committee ranking Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio ultimately teamed up on an amendment designed to make it easier to punish the Iranian regime with revived and new sanctions in the event the president can’t certify Iran is complying with any agreement.

Kirk called the amendment “the key Iran vote of this session of Congress.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a senior member of the Foreign Relations panel, was also involved in the Kirk-Brown amendment.

“I hope we can all vote for this because it doesn’t do anything to cause disarray in the negotiations. What it says is if there is a deal and there’s a break-out by Iran, we’d have a very quick way to restore sanctions,” the California Democrat said on the floor just before the vote.

Politico: Senate Agrees to Disagree with Iran Vote

… On Thursday, Senate Democrats were finally on the spot. All 46 of them voted for Kirk’s amendment, which no matter how the amendment is interpreted, show there may eventually be a veto-proof majority in Congress in April when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brings Iran legislation to the floor.