This post has been updated now that the Obama administration has reached a deal with Iran.
July 14, 2015
By Amber Phillips
Pretty soon, Congress (click here) could have an up-or-down vote on President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
But don't let your lawmaker fool you: It's not written in stone that Congress has the right to approve or disapprove of major international negotiations. It's not even a law.
The dirty little secret of U.S. international negotiations is this: Exactly how our government approves of most of this stuff is decided on a case-by-case basis.
Depending on what the president calls a deal with another country -- is it a treaty? an executive agreement? -- and the political movement du jour, a deal like the one with Iran could need a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to be approved or could slide by without any vote at all.
July 14, 2015
By Amber Phillips
Pretty soon, Congress (click here) could have an up-or-down vote on President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
But don't let your lawmaker fool you: It's not written in stone that Congress has the right to approve or disapprove of major international negotiations. It's not even a law.
The dirty little secret of U.S. international negotiations is this: Exactly how our government approves of most of this stuff is decided on a case-by-case basis.
Depending on what the president calls a deal with another country -- is it a treaty? an executive agreement? -- and the political movement du jour, a deal like the one with Iran could need a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to be approved or could slide by without any vote at all.
