Vice President Joe Biden lashed out at Republican lawmakers for their “highly misleading” letter Monday to Iran’s leaders cautioning against a nuclear deal with the United States, a letter he described as “false as it is dangerous.”
“The letter sent on March 9th by 47 Republican Senators to the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressly designed to undercut a sitting president in the midst of sensitive international negotiations, is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere,” Biden said in a statement.
Forty-seven Republicans, including Senate leaders and several potential 2016 presidential candidates, wrote an open letter to Iran’s leader, warning any deal with Obama might not be honored in future. In the letter, Republicans said that without congressional approval, any deal between Iran and the US would be merely an agreement between Obama and Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The letter, wrote Biden, “ignores two centuries of precedent and threatens to undermine the ability of any future American President, whether Democrat or Republican, to negotiate with other nations on behalf of the United States.”
Biden went on to warn that the letter and its implications undercut America’s interests by “sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments.”
“The decision to undercut our president and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle,” Biden wrote.
Biden complained that “as a matter of policy, the letter and its authors have also offered no viable alternative to the diplomatic resolution with Iran that their letter seeks to undermine.”
Read more: The Times of Israel
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Not only does this ignore two centuries of precedent, a law was enacted way back in the 1790s to make this a felony!
And not only have the authors no viable alternative, they didn’t even represent the US Constitution accurately. It is the President, not the Senate, that ratifies treaties.
Hey, Uncle Joe! They are serving lunch now at the matinee. Please don’t miss it.
Chrliehall, the problem is THIS president ratifies treaties while legally, it should be congress doing it. Also, who is joe Biden to talk about dignity? He probably has the least dignity of any politician in this country except the president.
who is he to talk about dignity