On Sunday, Pennsylvania’s junior Senator Pat Toomey penned an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer which advocated the need for Congress to vote on the recent nuclear deal made between President Barack Obama and the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Although an executive agreement has been reached, the U.S. Senate will soon have a vote to decide whether or not Congress has any role in the issue.
Sen. Toomey was one of the 47 GOP senators to co-sign Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton’s open letter to the Iranian government highlighting the fact that Congress is needed to ratify an actual treaty.
“Congress has a constitutional obligation in matters of war, peace, and national security, and neither President Obama nor any other president can by himself make an agreement with such far-reaching consequences for our country and the world,” Sen. Toomey wrote.
“I will vote in favor of a congressional role.”
Toomey noted that American history provides plenty of examples of Senate engagement in past international security policies, such as its rejection of the League of Nations over President Woodrow Wilson’s opposition and effectively ending the Vietnam War over President Richard Nixon’s protests (Sen. Toomey is actually incorrect on the latter point, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973 while Congress prohibited future military funding later that June).
“Presidents do have enormous constitutional powers in foreign policy, but those powers are not unlimited,” Sen. Toomey wrote.
Toomey questioned President Obama’s “acceptance” of a deal that “does not end the [nuclear] program – at best, it delays it.”
“Congress must ask the tough questions,” Sen. Toomey wrote.
“It would be a tragedy for our system of government and for our national security if this highly questionable deal with Iran was allowed to go through without even a vote in Congress,” he concluded.
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5 Responses
Keep up the good fight, Sen Toomey. The stats show that agreement with this deal has now officially fallen to below 25% of public opinion in this country. It’s nice to see a public official actually listening to its constituents, and NOT the minority. We are funneling 150 BILLION dollars thanks to this deal, to people who chant “death to America”. They won’t need to build a nuke – they will just go buy one. Let alone that Neucler inspections have been left to Iranian Inspectors?! That this administration “has complete confidence in”. What?? Our only other option was war?! Really? No, there was a MULTITUDE of options in this negotiation. A ton of aspects that were OBVIOUSLY not closely monitored, in an effort to get the it done quickly. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not done their due diligence in unbiased research on historical treaties. This is NOT a party vs party issue, folks. Don’t blindly align yourselves without doing the WORK to support your view. You just add yourselves to the heard of sheep that this deal is COUNTING ON.
This is why Toomey can’t be reelected. He is a consistent vote for the GOP Agenda that is failing us in the economy and foreign relations. It is also the reason why we need someone in the US Senate that understands the geopolitical ramifications of decisions made in the US Senate, and not someone who would be learning on the job…Dems need to stop playing around and drop the Arlen hate – make Joe Sestak the nominee and focus on defeating Toomey and electing Clinton as President. If the Democratic nominee is someone other than Sestak, you will be handing Toomey a win and make it tougher for Hillary. That is all.
No, you either take the path to war or the path to peace. My preference is the path to peace. I guess you prefer more dead soldiers. Because your way worked so well the last time we followed Republicans in the Mideast.
Toomey got it exactly right. As for you, Montco Dem, the agreement our President has put together will ensure a nuclear Iran in record time. Is that really what you want?
As one of the GOP’s #47traitors, Toomey would rather rattle sabers and move us to the brink of a full-blown world war in the Mideast instead of seeking a solution that takes nukes away from Iran. Make this clown pay in 2016.