THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW

Challenging WH-Iran Deal Yesterday I told you about the letter sent by 47 GOP senators to Iranian leaders, explaining how our U.S. Constitution works in regards to the signing of treaties. It has stirred up the Obama administration, Democratic lawmakers and Iranian officials. The GOP senators explained the process by which Congress must ratify treaties. Without Congressional approval, any deal agreed upon by Obama and Iran will be seen as nothing more than an executive agreement, which wouldn't necessarily hold once Obama left office. With less than two years to go, this means that Iran's U.S.-approved path to the bomb wouldn't hold should it chose to be challenged by the next administration or Congress. Democratic colleagues in the senate labeled the letter a "stunt" and inappropriate. Harry Reid opined that the letter was petty and "diminishes us as a country in the eyes of the world." There's nothing diminishing about standing up for our Constitution and doing what it takes to stop a bad deal with potentially catastrophic consequences. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the GOP letter "a partisan strategy to undermine the president's ability to conduct foreign policy and advance our national security interests around the globe." Well when the president is on the precipice of unilaterally approving a horrific deal, that is not in the best interest of our national security, what else would you have the Congress do? An Unusual Coalition Obama himself said that the letter put the GOP senators in "common cause with hardliners in Iran.  It's an unusual coalition." And Vice President Joe Biden issued a statement declaring that the letter "offends me as a matter of principle" and is "beneath the dignity" of the senate.  Biden said , "In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which senators wrote directly to advise another country - much less a longtime foreign adversary - that the president does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them." Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who spearheaded the letter to Iran, responded to Biden's criticism on MSNBC this morning: "Joe Biden, as Barack Obama's own secretary of defense [Robert Gates] has said, has been wrong about nearly every foreign policy and national security decision in the last 40 years ... "Moreover, if Joe Biden respects the dignity of the institution of the Senate he should be insisting that the president submit any deal to approval of the Senate, which is exactly what he did on numerous deals during his time in Senate." He's absolutely right.  As Adam White points out in the Weekly Standard , Biden is hypocritical when it comes to his criticism of the senators who demand Congress be a part of the process.  Biden himself has lectured the White House on the importance of the "constitutional partnership" between Congress and the executive when it comes to treaties.  In 1989, for instance, Biden concluded that "The essence of the treaty power is that the president and the Senate are partners in the process by which the United States enters into, and adheres to, international obligations."  It seems as though our Constitution, checks and balances, are only convenient when trying to push his own agenda. Iran's foreign minister says the letter shows that the United States is "not trustworthy."  Looks who's talking about trust!  It's the Iranians who are not to be trusted when it comes to these negotiations. Nonetheless, a vast majority of the American people (71%) have little faith that these negotiations will make a difference in stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons.