When Speaker of the House John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress, he ignited a controversy. Netanyahu is set to visit March 3.
A bill that would levy tough new sanctions on Iran if it fails to sign an agreement to curb its nuclear program cleared a Senate committee on Thursday. But lawmakers are holding off on a full Senate vote to see whether diplomatic negotiations yield a deal.
Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee voted 18-4 to pass the bill aimed at ramping up economic pressure on Iran starting in July if it doesn’t ink an international deal preventing it from having the capability to develop a nuclear weapon.
Republicans still can move ahead, but that’s unlikely without Democratic support. They wouldn’t have enough votes to override President Barack Obama, who says he'll veto the legislation because it would derail the diplomatic effort to reach a deal.
