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 Days after a deadline passed for Congress to vote on the nuclear
pact, the 2016 presidential hopeful said any legislation to fund the
government after Sept. 30 must require the administration to hand
over information about "secret side deals" involving inspections of
Iran's nuclear facilities.
On Sept. 17, the deadline for reviewing the agreement, Obama's
fellow Democrats in the Senate for a third and last time blocked
Republican legislation meant to kill the Iran nuclear deal. The vote
conserved perhaps the greatest foreign policy win of his presidency.
Congress has until Sept. 30 either to pass a bill funding the
government in the new fiscal year that starts the following day, or
force federal agencies to shut down or curtail major operations.
 Cruz has tried in the past to use must-pass spending bills, like the
one coming due on Oct. 1, as vehicles to kill Obama initiatives,
like his healthcare overhaul and immigration policy changes. The
strategy has failed, but has forced temporary shutdowns.
Any stop-gap funding bill should use "the power of the purse to
force this administration to hand over the Iranian side deals," Cruz
told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Cruz said it would be Obama, not him, who would force a government
shutdown if the president jeopardized government-wide funding by
refusing to detail the Iran side deals.
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The "side deals" refer to arrangements between Iran and
international nuclear inspectors that lay out a framework for
inspections. The International Atomic Energy Agency insists details
of such arrangements must be kept confidential.
Cruz also wants any spending bill to defund the women's healthcare
provider Planned Parenthood, because it provides abortion services.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David
Gregorio and Peter Cooney)
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