Yes and the reason will surprise you....
The week the Senate is debating HR 1191, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act. This legislation requires the President to submit any agreement with Iran to the Senate for approval before it can be effective. The bill also forbids the President from lifting sanctions against Iran while Congress "reviews" the deal.
In case you are wondering what Iran sanctions has to do with "Protecting Volunteer Firefighters?" Well, nothing. The reason the Iran sanctions bill is being attached to legislation dealing with volunteer firefights is because Article One, Section 7 of the United States Constitution requires that all bills "raising revenue" originate in the House of Representatives. This includes any legislation concerning sanctions, since the federal government raises revenue by collecting fines from those who violates the sanctions.
So, under the Constitution, this bill should first go through the House before being taken up by the Senate. But the Senate is so anxious to throw a monkey wrench into negotiations with Iran reassert their prerogatives in foreign policy they could not wait for the House.
So they took a bill exempting volunteer firefights form Obamacare's "individual mandate" and amended it with the text of the Iran bill and VIOLA the bill "originated in the House" and is thus Constitutional....at least according to the Congress, the President, and the federal courts. Whether the drafters of the Constitution (or anyone with common sense) would consider it Constitutional is another issue.
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PDFTags: Congress, Iran