CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – FOREIGN POLICY
March 27, 2012 – 5:28 p.m.
Reid Urges Speed on Iran Sanctions Bill, but GOP, Lieberman Seek Changes
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
Senate Majority Leader
Republicans are rallying around a lengthy amendment, drafted by Sen.
Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that he wanted to move the bill as quickly as possible and that “changes to the bill at this time will only slow down its passage.”
Lieberman, who caucuses with the Democrats, said that based on recent conversations with Reid “my understanding is that we’d be allowed to put our resolution about containment being an unacceptable policy as an amendment” and he planned to discuss the matter further with Reid.
“I hope that this is an opening position by Sen. Reid and that he negotiates out of it,” Lieberman said Tuesday. Senate Minority Leader
A manager’s amendment that incorporates the various amendment ideas senators have proffered would be another good option, Lieberman said.
That is how at least some of the senators who want to introduce amendments want to proceed, according to a senior Senate aide.
“I think that Democratic leaders already know where this ends: a bipartisan compromise manager’s amendment,” said the aide.
That process, the aide predicted, would lead to the unanimous consent Reid is seeking.
Undeterred, Reid moved forward with a unanimous consent request to pass the bill Tuesday afternoon. But Republicans refused to agree to the request absent some changes to the bill’s language.
“It depends on whether the leader is willing to work with Sen. Kirk,” Minority Whip
Kirk’s amendment runs 30 pages and would expand existing sanctions to target all Iranian financial institutions and any individual or company that does business with Iran’s petroleum, natural gas or petrochemical sectors. It would also sanction Iranian telecommunications companies and those that produce other types of communication software and hardware, which lawmakers blame for helping to censor and suppress Iranian citizens.
‘A Lot of Support’ Predicted
Reid Urges Speed on Iran Sanctions Bill, but GOP, Lieberman Seek Changes
The amendment would allow the president to waive those sanctions only if doing so is in the United States’ “vital national security interests” and only for 120 days at a time. Companies from those countries found to be significantly reducing their Iranian oil purchases would also be freed from the sanctions related to crude oil.
“The administration may not like” Kirk’s amendment, Kyl observed, “but on the Senate floor there’d be a lot of support for it.”
That’s what the administration and Reid appear to be trying to avoid as U.S. diplomats enter a delicate period of negotiations with the Iranians as well as with international allies.
An anti-containment amendment would almost certainly garner broad backing on both sides of the aisle, as well. The resolution, which was introduced in February by Lieberman, Sen.
Other potential amendments senators are discussing include one that would target Iran’s shipping industry and those supplying it, as well as ones to add further sanctions on Syria and its energy industry.
Republicans scoffed Tuesday at Reid’s explanation that the Senate “cannot afford to slow down this process” with amendment votes.
“I see, because it was the weather that kept us from taking [the sanctions bill] up some months ago,” joked Sen.
But one of the most vocal Democratic boosters of aggressive sanctions, New Jersey Sen.
“I’m definitely ready to support moving it as is,” Menendez said. “Timing is everything here, the sooner the better.”
Niels Lesniewski and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this story.