Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I just want to follow up briefly with Chairman Corker. The two of us became friends in 2007, when we were both elected to the U.S. Senate the same year and were part of the same class. But I think the two of us really became close friends a little over 2 years ago, when we were confronted with how Congress should deal with the nuclear agreement being negotiated by President Obama with Iran and our European friends, along with Russia and China. As the two of us worked around the clock to try to develop an appropriate review process so that Congress could play a constructive role--we recognize that we are the legislative branch, and we have oversight functions, but there is an appropriate role for us with regard to Executive actions--we came out with something that no one expected could be done; that is, nearly unanimous support in this body for a review statute in regard to the Iran negotiations. Chairman Corker has taken this same template and has now used that to apply to Russia in the removal of sanctions on Russia. It started with a bill that was put together by Senator Graham and me. It has been modified through the negotiations we have had, as Senator Corker has commented, with Senator Brown and Senator Crapo. But it does, in effect, provide that there will be notice to Congress before the administration can give any sanction relief to Russia, so there can be transparency and a discussion and a debate.…”