The Senate's Deal-Making Pioneers

WASHINGTON — Years of stalemate recently have given way to an outbreak of deal-making in the Senate, but one committee was ahead of the curve.

Before the so-called "doc fix" passed, before a deal to pass an anti-human trafficking bill, before Loretta Lynch's attorney general confirmation and before GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky donned sunglasses and fist-bumped Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on the Senate floor, the Foreign Relations Committee spent a recent two-week recess getting something done.

The roots of the panel's throwback bipartisan style can be traced to last session, when then-Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and the panel's top Republican, Bob Corker of Tennessee, established a close working relationship.

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And committee members say the Menendez-Corker relationship has set a tone that has helped the panel work across the aisle while others have been stymied by partisanship.

Members say there are important traits in focus and approach that allowed the committee to write a bipartisan bill that would create a way for Congress to review any deal the Obama administration and five other global powers might reach with Iran.

What's more, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters this week the panel soon will begin sensitive talks about a complex measure that would legally authorize ongoing US military operations against the Islamic State.

Just before Foreign Relations Committee Republicans joined Democrats in unanimously approving the Iran measure, Corker declared it a major milestone.

So what allowed the committee to become one that can accomplish big things in an era of what many call the "do-nothing Congress?"

"I think we really strive to put partisanship aside and focus on national interests," Corker said the morning after the 19-0 vote. "Yesterday was a great day for our nation. But a great day also for the United States Senate.

"I want to thank all 19 members for the way they've conducted themselves … with a lot of tribulations," Corker said in a brief interview.

Panel member Edward Markey, D-Mass., told CongressWatch the committee has been able to get things done because "it works together where it is possible."

Markey and other panel members described a shared approach of focusing on areas of agreement and how to reach legislative outcomes.

"Where bipartisanship is possible," the veteran lawmaker said, "I think ultimately that is the goal."

During the markup, the man who replaced the recently indicted Menendez earlier this month as Foreign Relations Ranking Democrat, Ben Cardin of Maryland, explained to Corker his approach as ranking member as "working with you to achieve our mutual goals."

Corker summarized his approach as chairman to reporters this week: "I try to deal with things that try to generate an outcome."

Another factor, senators say, are the sensitive issues that fall under the committee's purview.

"The stakes are higher," Coons said the day after the unanimous vote.

"This is about negotiations over Iran's nuclear program," he said in a brief interview. "I think our struggles to move an authorization for the use of military force have frustrated members on both sides and created an environment where we really wanted a bipartisan outcome."

Corker also has struck a bipartisan note in handing out credit for the negotiations that led to the committee's unanimous Iran vote, praising Menendez and several other Democrats for their efforts.

"I want to thank Tim Kaine for his incredible effort," Corker said of the Virginia Democrat during the Iran bill markup. "Tim is someone who understands truly the role of the United States Senate and issues of this significance."

The GOP chairman hailed the freshman Democrat "a stalwart" on the Iran review issue. He went out of his way to publicly label Kaine "articulate" on the topic, adding "more clearly than anyone else why it's important for us to take the role that I hope this legislation today will allow us to take."

Corker also has ample praise for Menendez and Cardin.

Of Menendez, Corker stated publicly during the April 14 session that "I can't imagine a member being more constructive."

"I want to thank former chairman and former Ranking Member Senator Bob Menendez for his tremendous efforts on all things Iran, but certainly, this piece of legislation," Corker said. "There's no question that over the last two years you have helped bring us to this point."

Corker told CongressWatch the next day he regrets Menendez is not getting more credit for helping negotiate a revised version of an Iran bill he helped conceive.

In his signature eastern Tennessee drawl, the former GOP Chattanooga mayor used his opening statement during the Iran markup to just keep lobbing praise toward Democrats. And that just doesn't happen every day on Capitol Hill.

"To Ranking Member Cardin, I don't know how many times we've talked on the phone over the last several days. I cannot thank you enough for your temperament, for your tone, for your seriousness on a very, very important issue," Corker said with a nod toward the old-school negotiating that went into the Iran bill.

"And I look forward to working with you on other significant issues," he said. "But today, to be where we are no doubt is a testament to the type of senator you came here to be."

The across-the-aisle praising worked both ways, with members providing a window into how the committee gets things done.

"Mr. Chairman, I look at my position as working with you to achieve our mutual goals," Cardin told Corker, "and that is this Senate Foreign Relations Committee has an extremely important role to play, and we want to do that in the best interest of the United States.

"So sure, I represent the Democratic members, but in a broader sense, I think we both represent all the members of the Senate in bringing as much unity as we possibly can to foreign policy in this country," Cardin said.

Panel members credited Corker and Cardin with doing something Republicans and Democrats have been unwilling to do in recent years: Drop provisions to which the other party disagrees.

Corker told CongressWatch he had to bend a little because Cardin "had some things that were red lines for him."

Markey, D-Mass., credited Cardin with doing "a very good job ... in mediating so that we could remove the provisions that were unrelated to the actual nuclear program in Iran."

"I think he is a very good negotiator. He went to the core of the issue and what was essential," Markey told CongressWatch. "He identified it. He worked with Bob Corker, and I think ultimately they both decided that was the proper course."

Email: jbennett@defensenews.com

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