In SXSW Interactive’s conversation with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Paul explained he wanted to make sure President Barack Obama got the message he was sending directly to him when he joined 46 other Republican senators signing a letter to the Iranian mullahs.
Paul said he is open to a good deal with Iran, but it is Obama’s repeated “bullying” with executive orders, changing legislation and constant “stiff-arming” of Congress he is fighting back on.
Paul said, “He’s now saying, I don’t care what they say, I’ll take it [Iran Nuclear Deal] to the U.N. Well the U.N. doesn’t create our laws, Congress creates our laws. Congress undoes sanctions. And it’s his misunderstanding of the separation of powers that gets us into conflict. I would not have signed the letter had he not altered immigration law on his own; had he not altered the healthcare law on his own; had he not taken us to war on his own. I worry that he doesn’t care or understand our separation of power and therefore the letter. I told Kerry in our committee the other day—I said, Secretary Kerry, this letter was for you, the message was for you as much as it was for the mullahs, to let you know there is a separation of powers and we won’t be bullied. The Congress, the legislative branch has the ultimate prerogative to repeal law.”
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