President Barack Obama "does a very bad job on foreign relations" and needs Congressional discussion when it comes to the pending deal over Iran's nuclear capabilities, Sen. John Barrasso said Sunday.
Obama's actions on Syria, his referring to the Islamic State a "JV team," and by terming Yemen a success story all point to his poor decisions, the Wyoming Republican told
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, insisting that "the president needs input from Congress."
Barrasso was one of
47 Republican senators to sign a letter warning that no nuclear deal signed with the United States would last after the president leaves office, which Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, also on Sunday's show, said was a partisan effort made to weaken Obama at a critical time.
The White House has suggested that Congress wait to see the details of the Iran deal after its deadline on March 24 before weighing in on it, Wallace noted, which Barrasso thinks is a sign that a poor deal is being reached.
"The president has said only after they signed the deal will Congress get a chance to weigh in," said Barrasso, pointing out a letter from the White House that was sent last night went to both parties, as legislation on Iran will be bipartisan.
"The letter last night said that the president wants to go first to the Security Council of the United Nations before going to the Congress of the United States," he continued. "And you have to ask, why is that? Why is he saying both to Republicans and Democrats, sit down and be quiet? I think it's because it's a bad deal, that the president is so eager and desperate because of his legacy to get any deal that he's going to sign a bad one."
No deal is better than a bad one, Barrasso continued, and he is concerned that an agreement will lead to Iran having a nuclear weapon.
"A world where Iran has a nuclear weapon is less safe [and] less secure," Barrasso said. "We were supposed to actually dismantle Iran's capacity for a nuclear weapon and now the president has gotten to a point where, no, it's just about delaying. It's not about stopping. It's about managing."
And as a result, Barrasso believes that Iran will take more power across the whole Middle East, "all the way to the Mediterranean."
The Republicans' letter, Barrasso said, "focused the attention where it should be: on the debate about the deal."
Obama has not wanted to talk about that in the six years he has been in office, the Wyoming Senator said, and now the focus is on what it means if Iran gets nuclear weapons to either use for itself or to supply to terrorists to use against the United States.
Further, said Barrasso, the talks are also vital because of sanctions against Iran.
"They want the money," he said. "Iran wants the money so they can then spend it in other ways for terrorism."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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