Congress unmoved by Obama's call to back off Iran legislation
The Senate kicked off legislative debate while the House invited Israel's Netanyahu to weigh in.
The Republican-controlled Congress made clear Jan. 21 that it remains determined to weigh in on the nuclear talks with Iran despite President Barack Obama's dire warning a day earlier.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the threat from Tehran during a joint session of Congress on Feb. 11. And lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee declared themselves unconvinced by administration officials' arguments for keeping Congress at bay during the first Iran hearing of the new year.
Separately, the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted an oversight plan for the new Congress that prioritizes "pressuring Iran in order to stop Tehran's march toward nuclear weapons," according to Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif. Royce and the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., are working on their own Iran legislation, Al-Monitor first reported last week.
"I don't believe I'm poking anyone in the eye," Boehner told CNN about his decision to invite the Israeli leader in the midst of debate over new sanctions legislation. "There is a serious threat that exists in the world and the president last night kind of papered over it."
