GOP senators are mulling calls to attach a controversial Iran-sanctions proposal to a Ukraine aid measure awaiting consideration,�al-Monitor�reports.
"I think it's a good idea. The discussion [among Republicans] is going on right now," Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member James Inhofe�(R-Okla.) told the publication in comments published on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has refused to allow a floor vote on the Iran penalties alone, prompting some Senate�conservatives�to advocate linking the text to every bill reviewed by the full chamber. Certain GOP lawmakers, though, have aired worries that the sanctions language would endanger an effort to make $1 billion in funds available to�Ukraine's�cash-strapped provisional government.


Senator James Risch (R-Idaho) said "it does make sense" to link the Iran language to every bill moving through the chamber. He added, though, that he was not prepared to give a "yea" or "nay" to adopting the tactic for the Ukraine legislation.

According to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), acting on Ukraine should be the preeminent goal for lawmakers.

"If somebody has ... Iran sanctions or anything else as a higher priority, then they've got their priorities badly skewed," he said.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he hopes to avoid providing "anybody a reason not to support the Ukraine ... bill."

President Obama has pledged to veto the proposed Senate�Iran-sanctions legislation, which would levy new punitive measures if Tehran does not agree in part to halt all uranium enrichment under a potential long-term deal addressing the Middle Eastern nation's suspected nuclear-arms ambitions. Iran defends its nuclear program as a purely nonmilitary endeavor and has ruled out fully halting the refinement process, which can generate peaceful reactor material as well as fuel for nuclear arms.

In a related development, Iranian state media said Russia has inked initial terms to construct two additional atomic energy facilities in the Persian Gulf nation,�Agence France-Presse�reported. The sites would be located in Bushehr, a coastal city now hosting Iran's first and only nuclear power plant.

By The National Journal

 

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