Congressman Andy Harris chats with 47 ABC, opposes Iran Nuclear Deal
The deadline for congress to vote on the Iran Nuclear Deal is September 17th. However, some lawmakers have already made up their minds. One of them is Maryland U.S. House Representative Andy Harris.
Congressman Harris says, “Monies from this agreement will eventually be used to buy weapons that will end up killing Americans at some point in the future.
Congressman Harris has major issues with the Iran Nuclear Deal. The agreement forces Iran to limit its nuclear program and subject most parts of it to a new inspections regime. In exchange, sanctions which have crippled the country’s economy would be lifted.
The congressman tells 47 ABC he plans to vote against the deal. He continues, “Unless the verification changes and the verification is made really ‘anywhere, anytime.’ That’s what you need. If you make a deal with someone, and you suspect they’re going to cheat on it, you really need to be able to go in at anytime, anywhere and inspect for violations of the treaty.”
Those verifications he’s talking about are the same concerns of many critics. It’s apparently something the White House promised and didn’t uphold.
This nuclear deal gives Iran a delay of up to 24 days for outside inspections of suspected nuclear facilities. Critics like Congressman Harris feel that’s too much time.
He goes on, “They can’t be trusted. They’ve attempted to develop a nuclear weapon before. They’re developing a nuclear weapon even currently. They don’t need nuclear power.”
In fact, he thinks the agreement should not include any nuclear capabilities and believes there’s a chance that can still happen.
Congressman Harris continues, “If the U.S. doesn’t agree to this, then this agreement should die. The rest of the world should agree with the United States.”
Not every U.S. ally is on board with that idea. The United Kingdom’s Ambassador has already made that clear. However, Congressman Harris who says he’s knows this is not a muscle the administration would want to flex, says America’s control of the world’s banking system, the ability to levy economic sanctions, and it’s military power would be enough to get their allies to stay on their side.
He says, “Even Secretary Kerry admitted to congress if they had backed out of this agreement the weekend before, they would have tightened the economic sanctions in order to get Iran back to the table for a better agreement. Well I think it’s time to tighten economic sanctions and get Iran back to the table for a better agreement.”
If the House and the Senate reject the deal, President Obama has pledged to veto it. Congressman Harris says he hopes the House and Senate will override that veto.
