Defense bill passes; heat called for on Iran

WASHINGTON - A comprehensive defense bill was approved late Thursday by the Senate, the same day more than a quarter of the Senate introduced legislation that could raise sanctions on Iran and compel the United States to support Israel if it launches a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian nuclear program.

The White House has expressed support for the defense bill.

But President Barack Obama would veto the sanctions legislation, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney, who said the measure would increase the chance of war.

“Passing new sanctions legislation now will undermine our efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution and greatly increase the chances that the United States would have to take military action,” Carney said at a briefing Thursday.

The bill, sponsored by 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats - including Mark Pryor of Arkansas - sets sanctions that would go into effect if Tehran violates the nuclear deal it reached with world powers last month or lets the agreement expire without a long-term accord. The measures include a global boycott on Iranian oil exports within one year and the blacklisting of Iran’s mining, engineering and construction industries.

Sens. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, announced the sanctions legislation in an emailed statement.

The goal, according to supporters, is to strengthen the negotiating leverage of the Obama administration as it seeks to pressure Iran into a comprehensive agreement next year that would eliminate the risk of the Islamic Republic developing nuclear weapons. But it could also create added complications for U.S. negotiators, who promised Iran no new economic sanctions for the duration of the six-month interim pact that was finalized Nov. 24 in Geneva.

“Current sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, and a credible threat of future sanctions will require Iran to cooperate and act in good faith at the negotiating table,” said Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kirk called the draft law “an insurance policy to defend against Iranian deception.”

The legislation also calls for the U.S. to support Israel if it “is compelled to take military action in legitimate self-defense against Iran’s nuclear weapon program.”

Menendez’s action was criticized by 10 senior Democratic senators, chairmen of other committees, who said in a letter to Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada that new sanctions now “would play into the hands of those in Iran who are most eager to see the negotiations fail.”

Among those signing the letter were Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Tim Johnson of South Dakota, chairman of the Banking Committee; and Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Their objection makes it less likely that Reid will permit the bill to advance once the Senate returns in January.

The legislation’s bipartisan support reflects pressure on Obama to get a tough accord with Iran or walk away. Obama has said that Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, won’t be allowed to gain nuclear weapons.

Menendez said the legislation, which would require further reductions in Iranian oil sales, gives the president flexibility to conduct the negotiations.

The legislation would let the president waive the sanctions if negotiations are proceeding and Iran is complying with the interim accord reached last month in Geneva. The legislation sets stringent requirements for what Iran must do in order for the president to waive sanctions undera final accord.

The measure says that a final deal must include the dismantling of “Iran’s illicit nuclear infrastructure, including enrichment and reprocessing capabilities and facilities, the heavy water reactor and production plant at Arak, and any nuclear weapon components and technology, so that Iran is precluded from a nuclear breakout capability and prevented from pursuing both uranium and plutonium pathways to a nuclear weapon.”

Iran has asserted that it won’t entirely give up its current uranium-enrichment capabilities, which provide it with the capability to quickly produce nuclear weapons if it chooses to do so.

Iran’s foreign minister also has said new sanctions could scuttle hopes of a diplomatic resolution.

The agreement in Geneva gives Iran $7 billion in sanctions relief over the next halfyear in exchange for Iran neutralizing its higher-enriched uranium stockpiles, not adding any new centrifuges and ceasing work at a heavy-water reactor that potentially could produce plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

DEFENSE BILL PROVISIONS

The comprehensive defense bill that was passed 84-15 by the Senate would crack down on sexual assault in the military and add protections for victims.

The legislation, which would provide $552.1 billion for the regular military budget and $80.7 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations is a reflection of deficit-driven efforts to trim spending and of the drawdown in a conflict lasting more than a decade.

The bill would give Obama additional flexibility in deciding the fate of terror suspects at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but it stops well short of the administration’s goal of closing the installation.

The House overwhelmingly passed the bill last week on a strong bipartisan vote.

The legislation would:

Authorize a 1 percent pay raise for military personnel and cover combat pay and other benefits.

Strip military commanders of their ability to overturn jury convictions, require a civilian review if a commander declines to prosecute a case and require that any individual convicted of sexual assault face a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. The bill also would provide victims with legal counsel, eliminate the statute of limitations for courts-martial in rape and sexual assault cases, and criminalize retaliation against victims who report a sexual assault.

The legislation does not include a contentious proposal from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to give victims of rape and sexual assault in the military an independent route outside the chain of command for prosecuting attackers, taking the authority away from commanders.

Among the other provisions, the bill would authorize funds for the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria and provide money to study the feasibility of establishing a missile defense site on the East Coast.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Reid, meanwhile, promised Thursday that the chamber would vote in early January on extending jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

More than 1 million people are set to be abruptly cut off of federal unemployment benefits averaging less than $300 a week nationwide just three days after Christmas. Another 1.9 million people would miss out on the benefits next year.

Reid promised a vote no later than Jan. 7 on a measure to extend those benefits for three months. He said the number of jobless people out of work for more than six months is far greater than in past economic recoveries.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he’s open to extending the benefits, but only if accompanied by spending cuts elsewhere in the budget to cover the cost. A one-year extension of federal jobless benefits, which generally go to people who have been out of work for more than six months, would cost $25 billion.

Democrats point out that former President George W. Bush signed an extension of jobless benefits into law in 2008, when the national unemployment rate was 5.6 percent. It’s now at 7 percent, according to the most recent report from the Labor Department.

Reid also said the Senate would vote early next year on raising the federal minimum wage from the current level of $7.25.

Information for this article was contributed by Donna Cassata, Bradley Klapper, Nedra Pickler, Deb Riechmann and Andrew Taylor of The Associated Press and by Terry Atlas, Michael C. Bender, Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Kathleen Hunter and Cheyenne Hopkins of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/20/2013

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