Leading Democratic Lawmakers Condemn GOP Letter to Iran
Press Release
Yesterday, five leading Democratic lawmakers publically condemned the actions of 47 Republican Senators for taking foreign policy into their own hands by intervening in ongoing nuclear proliferation talks between the United States and the Iranian government.
In a letter to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, was joined by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), John Conyers (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Keith Ellison (D-MN), in expressing their "immense concern and profound disappointment" with Senator Tom Cotton's (R-AR) letter to Iranian leadership, which was signed by 46 other Republican Senators, including the Majority Leader himself.
Senator Cotton's letter has drawn bipartisan and international criticism as a clear and unabashed attempt to undermine President Obama's foreign policy. Several Republican Senators, including Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, refused to sign onto the letter. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the Republican letter as "not helpful."
"Senator Cotton's letter represents yet another example of Congressional Republicans' penchant for political theatre over serious governing," said Rep. Maxine Waters. "I was appalled to learn that a majority of Senate Republicans signed onto the letter, including the Majority Leader. This letter is nothing more than a political stunt, and these Senators should be ashamed of this blatant attempt to sabotage American foreign policy. For more than two centuries, politics has stopped at our nation's shores. I'm saddened Republicans have abandoned that philosophy."
The Representatives reiterated their commitment to stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and expressed disappointment in the Republicans' attempt to damage a potential international agreement that could prevent Iran from obtaining such weapons and make the United States and our allies safer.
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