Boehner Accuses Obama Of Breaking Law On Iran Deal

WASHINGTON — (CNN) House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that President Barack Obama violated the law because he didn’t give Congress all the information on the Iran nuclear deal and said congressional Republicans may take legal action to block the agreement.

“That is an option that is very possible,” Boehner said about a lawsuit.

Boehner vowed the fight was just beginning, telling reporters at his weekly press conference, “This is a bad deal with decades-long consequences for the security of the American people and our allies, and we’ll use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay this agreement from being fully implemented.”

Boehner’s comments came shortly before action was expected in the Senate and the House on the deal.

A Senate vote on overcoming a likely filibuster was set for Thursday afternoon, while the House is expected to vote on a resolution saying Obama broke the law by not submitting all details on the deal to Congress.

A top aide to Senate Majority Leader McConnell aide is signaling that if their side fails in the Iran filibuster vote today, Republicans may use procedural tools to force a revote next week. The thinking is that they might be able to put additional political pressure on members like Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and other vulnerable Democrats up for reelection next year.

A top aide to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, however, said Democrats don’t expect any votes to change if Republicans pursue this strategy.

McConnell urged Senate Democrats not to filibuster a vote on the deal.

“What a tragedy it would be then if, at the very last moment, some of those same Senators decided to filibuster to prevent the American people from having a real say on this incredibly important issue,” McConnell said in a statement Thursday.

Reid said that a vote on whether to end debate amounted to a vote on the deal itself.

“Let’s be clear about who is moving to end debate: it is the Republican leader and he alone who is moving to end debate. It is the Republican Leader who filed a procedural motion last night to end debate,” Reid said in a statement Thursday.

Earlier in the week, conservatives in the House and Senate split with Republican leaders, whom they have accused of “showboating” on the issue. The maneuver led to the series of votes the House has scheduled to oppose the deal and to lay the groundwork for a lawsuit against Obama.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz fired off a last-gasp volley Thursday to McConnell and Boehner urging them block implementation of the deal. He also cautioned the nation’s bankers against releasing any frozen Iranian funds, which could make their way to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“If they release billions in funds to Khamenei, they risk billions in civil (and possibly even criminal) liability once President Obama leaves office,” Cruz wrote in a Sept. 10 letter to McConnell and Boehner.

It is highly unlikely that Republicans will succeed in blocking the deal outright — Democrats hold just enough votes in the Senate to block a vote and more than enough to sustain the veto Obama has promised for any measure against the deal. The fight instead has turned in large part to putting lawmakers on record with a series of tough votes on the issue.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi continued to express confidence Thursday that the Iran deal would be implemented later this month because Democrats on Capitol Hill have enough support to overcome Republican efforts to block it.

She called the President’s handling of the debate and efforts to get it through Congress “masterful” and “dazzling.”

“This is historic, this is grand, this is visionary, this is about peace. Some of our members are saying this is the first time since I’ve been here I’ve been able to vote for peace rather than against war,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference.

Lawmakers are facing a Sept. 17 deadline for action before the deal automatically takes effect — 60 days from when the deal was presented to Congress — but even that deadline has been disputed by conservatives.

(Photo: CNN)