US lawmakers prepare to vote on compromise Iran bill

Baku. 15 April. REPORT.AZ/ A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday agreed to a compromise bill that would give Congress more say in a final Iran accord.

Report informs referring to the foreign media, the agreement comes as Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior administration officials briefed Congress for a second consecutive day on ongoing nuclear talks during closed-door sessions.

President Barack Obama has worked tirelessly to stop lawmakers from passing new sanctions legislation on Iran, which administration officials say could potentially derail ongoing negotiations with Iran and weaken international support for existing sanctions.

He previously threatened to veto similar legislation.

The bill will require Obama to submit any final agreement with Iran to Congress, which will have 30 days to review the accord, an additional 12 days for Obama to accept or veto legislation that Congress passes, and 10 days for Congress to decide on a potential veto override vote, according to U.S. media.

Congress would need a two-thirds majority vote from each the Senate and the House to override a presidential veto.

Obama could lift executive sanctions during the 30-day review window, but would not be allowed to take similar action on Congressional sanctions.

If the deal were submitted to Congress after July 9, the review period would be extended to 60 days – a timeframe that lawmakers had initially sought.

The compromise accord further removed amendments that would have required the president to certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran is not supporting terrorism against Americans.

"We have reached a bipartisan agreement that keeps the congressional review process absolutely intact," Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on U.S. news network MSNBC.