Senate Panel: We Have an Iran Bill

"We have reached a bipartisan agreement that keeps the congressional review process absolutely intact, full of integrity." So said Sen. Bob Corker this morning in revealing that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republicans and Democrats have arrived at a compromise on a bill that would give Congress the chance to review any Iran nuke deal—setting the stage for a possible veto ... and veto override. The White House has long maintained Obama would stop such a bill, but the New York Times reports that Senate Democrats hope an "overwhelming vote" this afternoon leads him to re-examine that decision. The committee will vote on the bill at 2:15pm, reports Politico, and it's expected to have no trouble passing.

The compromise bill whittles down the congressional review period: Instead of 60 days, there would be a 30-day initial review, plus up to another 22 days, which the Times reports would be divided as follows: 12 days for Obama to decide whether to veto "a resolution of disapproval" should that occur, and 10 days for Congress to decide whether to override his veto. Final agreement on an Iran deal is slated to come by June 30, but if the deal is submitted to Congress after July 9, then the review period would balloon to 60 days. (More Iran nuclear weapons program stories.)