Democrats seek to move Israel bill without Iran language
Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to take the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act straight to the Senate floor to avoid Republican amendments.
The lead sponsor of legislation strengthening US-Israel relations announced Tuesday she'd try to take her bill straight to a Senate vote to avoid a partisan committee vote on Iran nuclear negotiations.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she pulled her US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act from consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to avoid a vote on an Iran amendment by the committee's ranking member, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. The bill notably encourages the administration to allow Israel into the visa-waiver program, allows for the continued transfer of surplus weapons and ammunition and authorizes the president to provide assistance for cooperation in the fields of energy, water, homeland security, agriculture and alternative fuel technologies.
Corker's amendment would have required the Obama administration to share any final deal with Iran with lawmakers and allowed Congress to hold hearings and vote on a non-binding "joint resolution of disapproval" on a nuclear deal, if one can be achieved.
"I pulled it down because of the Iran amendment," Boxer told Al-Monitor. "I didn't think it should get mired in this. This is about a bilateral relationship with Israel."
