[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 251 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 251

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the congressional review 
  provision of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 does not 
 apply to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action announced on July 14, 
2015, because the President failed to transmit the entire agreement as 
 required by such Act, and that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 
would only preempt existing Iran sanctions laws as ``the supreme Law of 
 the Land'' if ratified by the Senate as a treaty with the concurrence 
 of two thirds of the Senators present pursuant to Article II, section 
   2, clause 2, of the Constitution or if Congress were to enact new 
   implementing legislation that supersedes the mandatory statutory 
sanctions that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action announced on July 
                    14, 2015, purports to supersede.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 10, 2015

   Mr. Johnson (for himself, Mr. Toomey, and Mr. Lee) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the congressional review 
  provision of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 does not 
 apply to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action announced on July 14, 
2015, because the President failed to transmit the entire agreement as 
 required by such Act, and that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 
would only preempt existing Iran sanctions laws as ``the supreme Law of 
 the Land'' if ratified by the Senate as a treaty with the concurrence 
 of two thirds of the Senators present pursuant to Article II, section 
   2, clause 2, of the Constitution or if Congress were to enact new 
   implementing legislation that supersedes the mandatory statutory 
sanctions that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action announced on July 
                    14, 2015, purports to supersede.

Whereas the United States Government has enacted and enforced multiple statutes 
        and regulations that impose comprehensive sanctions on Iran and on 
        companies and individuals doing business with Iran;
Whereas Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution provides that the 
        President ``shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
        Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
        concur'';
Whereas Article VI, clause 2 of the Constitution provides that ``This 
        Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in 
        Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under 
        the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the 
        Land'';
Whereas, on April 28, 2015, 39 Senators voted for Senate Amendment 1150, the 
        purpose of which was ``To declare that any agreement reached by the 
        President relating to the nuclear program of Iran is deemed a treaty 
        that is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate'';
Whereas, according to subsection (a)(1) of section 135 of the Atomic Energy Act 
        of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2160e), as added by section 2 of the Iran Nuclear 
        Agreement Review Act of 2015, which the President signed into law as 
        Public Law 114-17 on May 22, 2015, ``[n]ot later than 5 calendar days 
        after reaching an agreement with Iran relating to the nuclear program of 
        Iran, the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional 
        committees and leadership the agreement, as defined in subsection 
        (h)(1), including all related materials and annexes'';
Whereas subsection (h)(1) of such section 135 defines the ``agreement'' that the 
        President ``shall'' transmit to Congress not later than 5 calendar days 
        after reaching an agreement with Iran to include all ``annexes, 
        appendices, codicils, side agreements, implementing materials, 
        documents, and guidance, technical or other understandings, and any 
        related agreements, whether entered into or implemented prior to the 
        agreement or to be entered into or implemented in the future'';
Whereas such section 135 further provides that a 60-day congressional review 
        period will commence upon the President's transmittal of the agreement, 
        including all annexes, appendices, codicils, side agreements, 
        implementing materials, documents, and guidance, technical or other 
        understandings, and any related agreements, whether entered into or 
        implemented prior to the agreement or to be entered into or implemented 
        in the future;
Whereas, on July 14, 2015, the Secretary of State announced a multilateral 
        agreement with Iran and six other nations, labeled the Joint 
        Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in Annex II of which the United 
        States purports to agree that ``[t]he United States commits to cease the 
        application, and to seek such legislative action as may be appropriate 
        to terminate, or modify to effectuate the termination of, all nuclear-
        related sanctions as specified in Sections 4.1-4.9 below,'' and Sections 
        4.1-4.9 specifies the following United States statutes: ``the Iran 
        Sanctions Act of 1996 (ISA), as amended by Section 102 of the 
        Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 
        (CISADA) and Sections 201-207 and 311 of the Iran Threat Reduction and 
        Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (TRA); CISADA, as amended by Sections 
        214-216, 222, 224, 311-312, 402-403, and 605 of TRA and Section 1249 of 
        the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (IFCA); the 
        National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), as 
        amended by Sections 503-504 of TRA and Section 1250 of IFCA'';
Whereas the United States statutes specified in sections 4.1 through 4.9 of 
        Annex II, of which the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action purports to 
        provide for United States agreement to ``cease the application'', may 
        only be superseded by a Senate-ratified treaty or by new legislation;
Whereas the United States statutes and regulations concerning Iran sanctions 
        include section 2 of CISADA, in which Congress made comprehensive 
        findings of fact concerning Iran, which remain true and accurate today, 
        including that ``[t]he illicit nuclear activities of the Government of 
        Iran, combined with its development of unconventional weapons and 
        ballistic missiles and its support for international terrorism, 
        represent a threat to the security of the United States, its strong ally 
        Israel, and other allies of the United States around the world'';
Whereas Congress also found in section 2(10) of CISADA that ``[e]conomic 
        sanctions imposed pursuant to the provisions of this Act, the Iran 
        Sanctions Act of 1996, as amended by this Act, and the International 
        Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), and other 
        authorities available to the United States to impose economic sanctions 
        to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, are necessary to 
        protect the essential security interests of the United States'';
Whereas, based on the above and other similar statutory findings since 1979, the 
        United States enacted ISA, CISADA, section 1245 of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112-81), the IFCA, 
        and the TRA, as well as various preceding statutes that each of the 
        named laws amended over time, and, taken as a whole, those Acts of 
        Congress directed and authorized the Secretaries of State, Treasury, 
        Defense, and Energy, and other Federal agencies, to promulgate and 
        enforce implementing regulations, which they have done under the 
        guidance of multiple executive orders and under close congressional 
        oversight;
Whereas the Department of Justice has prosecuted, or entered into non-
        prosecution agreements with, corporations and individuals for Iran 
        sanctions violations under this body of law;
Whereas existing legislation includes mandatory sanctions that may only be 
        repealed or amended by law, including CISADA section 104, which provides 
        that the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations to 
        prohibit or restrict correspondent accounts for foreign financial 
        institutions that knowingly engage in a prohibited activity, and TRA 
        section 202, which provides that the President shall impose statutorily 
        prescribed sanctions with respect to persons that own, operate, control, 
        or insure vessels used to transport crude oil from Iran to another 
        country;
Whereas the President's authority to waive statutorily prescribed sanctions is 
        limited, conditional, and circumscribed by law;
Whereas the period of five days for the President to transmit to Congress the 
        ``agreement with Iran relating to the nuclear program of Iran,'' as 
        defined in section 135 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as added by 
        section 2 of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, began to run 
        on July 14, 2015, and by July 19, 2015, the President had transmitted to 
        Congress only part of the ``agreement with Iran relating to the nuclear 
        program of Iran'' reached five days earlier;
Whereas the Administration publicly acknowledged on July 22, 2015, that at least 
        two side agreements existed that had not yet been provided to Congress, 
        specifically between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and 
        Iran, but has steadfastly refused to provide those agreements;
Whereas such section 135 provides that the President ``shall'' transmit to 
        Congress any agreement with Iran, ``including all related materials and 
        annexes'', defined under such section to include ``side agreements''--
        with no statutory exceptions for either secret or unavailable (to the 
        United States) side agreements--within five days of reaching such an 
        agreement; and
Whereas, as a result, the President has never fully transmitted to Congress the 
        ``agreement with Iran relating to the nuclear program of Iran'' as 
        defined by such section 135, and specifically did not transmit the full 
        agreement within the timeline mandated by law: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the congressional review provision under section 135 of 
        the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2160e), as added by 
        section 2 of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 
        (Public Law 114-17), does not apply to the Joint Comprehensive 
        Plan of Action announced on July 14, 2015, because the 
        President failed to comply with the transmission to Congress 
        provisions of such section 135;
            (2) because the President did not transmit to Congress 
        ``all related materials and annexes'' within five days of 
        reaching agreement with Iran, the statutory congressional 
        review provided for in such section 135 did not occur, at least 
        not in the manner envisioned by the members of Congress who 
        voted for Public Law 114-17;
            (3) in light of the President's failure to submit the 
        entire ``agreement with Iran relating to the nuclear program of 
        Iran,'' including side agreements, to Congress within five 
        days, the congressional review provision of such section 135 by 
        its own terms was not applicable to the partial agreement that 
        the President submitted to Congress, known as the JCPOA, and 
        therefore in order for the substance of what was submitted to 
        Congress to become ``the supreme Law of the Land'' pursuant to 
        Article VI, clause 2 of the Constitution, it would need to be 
        either treated by the Senate as a treaty ``provided two thirds 
        of the Senators present concur'' pursuant to Article II, 
        section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, or Congress would need 
        to enact new implementing legislation that supersedes the 
        mandatory statutory sanctions that the JCPOA purports to 
        supersede;
            (4) the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and 
        Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA), section 1245 of the National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112-
        81), the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 
        (IFCA), and the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights 
        Act of 2012 (TRA) remain ``the supreme Law of the Land'' unless 
        and until a Senate-ratified treaty or duly enacted statute 
        repeals or otherwise supersedes them and becomes ``the supreme 
        Law of the Land'' pursuant to Article VI, clause 2 of the 
        Constitution; and
            (5) the Senate, which has the power to consent to treaties 
        under Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, has 
        not and does not consent to the JCPOA, which is therefore not 
        ``the supreme Law of the Land'', and the President therefore 
        has a constitutional duty to ensure that the Iran sanctions 
        laws, including CISADA, section 1245 of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112-81), 
        IFCA, and TRA, continue to be faithfully executed.
                                 <all>