From left, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser; and Secretary of State John Kerry were among those attending a meeting between President Obama and Donald Tusk, the European Council president, on Monday.Credit Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Good Tuesday morning from Washington, where the clock is ticking ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email news conference and possible Republican presidential candidates are lining up to face the firefighters. The Senate would rather discuss human trafficking than the attorney general nomination of Loretta E. Lynch, but after Republicans in the chamber tried to derail negotiations with Iran, foreign policy is the biggest hot spot between Congress and the White House.
The escalating fight over a potential Obama administration nuclear deal with Iran has sent relations between President Obama and congressional Republicans plummeting to a new low as the White House on Monday accused Senate Republicans of actively undermining administration foreign policy.
In a remarkable statement, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was unsparing in his criticism of an open letter from 47 Senate Republicans to the Iranian government warning that any agreement could be overturned by the next administration. Mr. Biden, a senator for more than three decades, called the letter offensive and said that undercutting “a sitting president in the midst of sensitive international negotiations is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere.”
Some Democrats went even further and suggested that the letter to Iran could even violate the Logan Act. The act, dating from the administration of John Adams, makes it a crime for an unauthorized American citizen to correspond with a foreign government “to defeat the measures of the United States.”
The dispute is unlikely to end in a criminal case. But coming just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel challenged Mr. Obama over the Iran deal from the House chamber, it was clear that the antagonism between Republicans and the president was spilling into foreign policy in ways veteran lawmakers said they had never seen before.
Republicans who signed the letter said it was necessary to make their views known. But Congress and the White House appeared to be entering a combative new phase over foreign policy just a few months after Republicans assumed control of the House and Senate.
– Carl Hulse
Stay tuned throughout the day @NYTpolitics for First Draft updates
Senate Turns to Trafficking as Lynch Still Awaits Confirmation
Senator Mitch McConnell‘s decision to hold off on a floor fight over a bill giving Congress the right to review any Iran deal created an opening in the Senate calendar, and it is being filled with a bipartisan measure to try to curb human trafficking.
On Tuesday, the Senate will begin debating the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which imposes additional fines on those convicted of sex and labor trafficking offenses to provide more revenue for restitution, services for victims and stepped up law enforcement.
“It holds the so-called Johns and the pimps accountable,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and a main author of the bill.
Senate Democrats hope that once the bill is approved as expected, the Senate will turn to the nomination of Loretta E. Lynch for attorney general, but Republicans have announced no plans for scheduling a vote on Ms. Lynch.
– Carl Hulse
Bulletins: Clinton’s News Conference and Bush’s Thanks
Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon add to the solitary Twitter message she has sent dealing with the controversy over her private email use as secretary of state. A news conference to address the situation is in the works.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida has been raking in the money as he mulls a presidential bid, and he took time out of his schedule to thank some donors and urge them on.
What We’re Watching Today
President Obama heads to Atlanta to talk about college affordability at Georgia Tech.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be in Boston for a Democratic National Committee event.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a 10 a.m. hearing on Russia and Ukraine.
Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at 1:40 p.m. at the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles event.
G.O.P. Hopefuls Find Themselves Before New Audience: Firefighters
They’ve heeded the call of CPAC conservatives and farmers in Iowa. Up next: firefighters.
As the large and disparate field of potential Republican presidential candidates continues to attend events around the country, Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, as well as former Gov. Jeb Bush, will all speak on Tuesday in Washington at the International Association of Fire Fighters legislative conference.
But unlike last weekend in Iowa, this time, the audience won’t be filled with Republican-leaning voters concerned with a specific issue. Rather, the potential candidates will face a broad, fairly bipartisan audience.
“We’re a middle, leaning-right union with a high concentration of veterans,†said Harold A. Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “They believe strongly in the Second Amendment. I think we’re a pretty interesting slice of Americana and the political landscape.â€
Indeed, while the union does tend to endorse Democratic candidates on the national level – Mr. Schaitberger is particularly proud of their early endorsement of John Kerry in 2003 – they have endorsed numerous Republicans at the statewide level, such as Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Susan Collins of Maine.
Pension overhaul, gun rights and income inequality are normally on the top of their priorities list, and Mr. Schaitberger said he expected a lot of the candidates to address issues facing the middle class “that we believe is under attack.â€
What they don’t expect, however, is a lot of conservative talking points.
“We’re hoping to hear a lot of things that we’re not going to like,†he said.
– Nick Corasaniti
Our Favorites From Today’s Times
Potential Republican presidential nominees are happy to share their humble roots.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has lived up to his anti-union reputation by signing new so-called right-to-work legislation.
Nate Cohn of The Upshot finds that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be a more vulnerable candidate than many people think.
The F.B.I. interviewed Senator Harry Reid of Nevada last year as part of its inquiry into Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
What We’re Reading Elsewhere
Paul Waldman of The American Prospect writes a letter to Hillary Rodham Clinton telling her that her supporters deserve better.
Chelsea Clinton told Sky News that she would consider going into politics someday.
Jonathan Cohn of The Huffington Post detects some shifts in Justice Antonin Scalia’s tone on the Affordable Care Act.
A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey would be in a deep hole if a presidential primary race were to start today.
Tony Karon of Al Jazeera says the Republican senators who wrote to Iran have a “charming naïveté.â€
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