Let’s Set the Record Straight on David Perdue and the Iran Agreement

Yesterday I began receiving e-mail messages about Senator David Perdue being one of 8 Republican Senators to vote with the Democrats on the Iran Terror Amendment. When I asked for the referenced vote, I received link to a web site with story about how horrible the deal with Iran is.

The article included a link to commentary from Mark Levin’s radio show. The commentary on the show was from last April. It dealt with an amendment that Senator Rubio introduced to a bill that required congressional review of any agreement with Iran.

The President has the ability to make agreements with other nations. These agreements are much like an Executive Order. An agreement is not binding on the next administration and, if there are enough votes in Congress, the agreement can be cancelled by act of Congress.

The President also has the ability to make a treaty with another nation or group of nations. A treaty, however, requires 2/3 Senate majority to approve before it becomes effective.

Because of this requirement, Presidents over the history of our nation have executed many more “agreements” than they have treaties. Obama is no exception. Many believe that the agreement with Iran is significant enough to classify it as a treaty.

I happen to agree with that opinion, but the reality is that Obama does not hold that view. The reality is that Democrats in the Senate would block any move to pass legislation calling it a treaty. Even if passed, Obama would veto any legislation calling it a treaty.

Obama was headed in a direction of making an agreement with no Congressional involvement and no open discussion. Republicans in the Senate pushed back with a bill that required Congressional approval.

David Perdue is on the Foreign Relations Committee and worked with his fellow Senators to craft a bill that would require a vote on an agreement. They were able to gain enough Democrat votes to bring the bill to a vote. They also had enough Democrat support to convince Obama to sign the bill.

So, here is where we get to the meat of the article that claimed David Perdue joined Obama and the Democrats on Iran. The vote in question was last April. Senator Rubio introduced an amendment to the bill requiring that the President certify that Iran was not supporting terror. Democrats made it very clear that they would not support any amendments to the bill to which they had agreed.

It was either to vote on the bill to which they agreed or there would be no bill. Obama would proceed to make whatever agreements he wanted to make with no discussion about it.

Senator Perdue was on the committee that crafted the bill. So, yes, it is true. Senator Perdue voted NO on the amendment offered by Senator Rubio. The NO vote was not because he did not agree with Rubio’s amendment.

The NO vote was because he was on the committee that hammered out something that would pass. Democrats made it clear that if there was to be a bill at all, it would be as it was. David Perdue made a reasonable and correct choice on his vote. I support his decision and appreciate him doing it.

I like Mark Levin and his conservative analysis. If Mark Levin were the Senate Majority Leader things could be different. But Mark Levin is not the Senate Majority Leader.

The bill that was passed has few teeth in it. But had there not been a bill, we would not be talking about it today. There is no telling what that agreement might have looked like and no one could have done anything about it.

Mark Levin was not the author of this article. The author used Levin’s commentary from last April. Levin was of the opinion that the Iran agreement is a treaty and should be treated as such.

Levin was angry that the Rubio amendment did not pass. He called out the Republicans who did not vote for the Rubio amendment. I can understand all of that in the context of the events of that day and that process last April.

It is misleading to take Levin’s commentary from last April, mix it in with news of today and lead the reader to the conclusion that David Perdue supports the Iran agreement. No, it is more than misleading. It is dishonest, deceptive, and disingenuous. In short, it’s a lie.

Signature of Donald Cole

 

 

 

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