This month, after The New York Times first reported that U.S. officials were visiting Caracas to explore talks with oil-rich Venezuela, the diplomatic gambit drew an angry response from one senator in particular.“The democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people,” Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said in a blistering statement, “are worth much more than a few thousand barrels of oil.”These were harsh words coming from a member of the president’s own party, who was furious that he hadn’t been adequately consulted on the trip. But they were emblematic of the extraordinary influence the New Jersey Democrat wields over some of the most politically radioactive topics in U.S. foreign policy, current and former lawmakers, officials and Senate aides say. The administration quickly denied accusations that the Caracas trip was part of an effort to find new supplies of energy to replace Russian oil or to undercut the Venezuelan opposition.“There is no dialogue between us and the regime,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said under questioning from reporters.The episode is only the most recent example of how Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is able to define the boundaries of what is acceptable on subjects from Iran to Venezuela. He is plugged in with Washington-savvy pro-Israel groups and with the politically active Cuban- and Venezuelan-American communities in South Florida. Sometimes in sync with the administration and often at odds with it, he is always to be handled with a healthy amount of respect and fear. “He’s somebody that you need on your side no matter what, so they’re very careful,” said Juan Cruz, who served as a senior director for the Western Hemisphere during the Trump administration.Last year, in a measure of the deference given to Menendez, the White House allowed him to suggest who should and should not be invited to an event with President Biden. The three individuals Menendez nixed were critics of the decades-old economic embargo of Cuba, which many on the left view as an example of a failed, right-wing policy.“Menendez has a very moralistic and inflexible view on the use of sanctions to punish and improve human rights, regardless of evidence,” said Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, a think tank in London.At the same time, Menendez has been a crucial administration ally on a number of Biden’s priorities, from clearing a path for dozens of appointees Republicans have tried to block to fostering a bipartisan consensus on the Ukraine war. Top administration officials consult with Menendez multiple times a month. His relationship with Biden is also a vast improvement over the tension-filled Obama era, allies said.“Chairman Menendez is a partner on our foreign policy goals and this administration benefits from his counsel,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council. In response to questions about tensions with the Biden administration, Menendez’s office pushed back hard on the perception that he approached the job of chairman any differently than he had under previous presidents of both parties.The next showdown with Menendez: Iran
ImageA worker riding a bicycle in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, outside the city of Bushehr in Iran.Credit...Majid Asgaripour/Associated PressMenendez’s clout may soon be tested anew if and when the administration unveils its long-awaited reset of the Iran nuclear deal.In recent days, officials have briefed members of House and Senate committees about the status of the talks in Vienna, and details of the 25-page agreement have begun to spill out in newspaper accounts.One of the final obstacles, according to those who have attended the briefings, is Iran’s demand that the U.S. no longer designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.Doing so would mean little in a practical sense because other sanctions on the group still apply, proponents of a deal say. But the Biden administration would need to expend precious political capital defending the move at a time when it has little to spare.“I’d want to see what that means in practice,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, who said he was waiting to see the text of an agreement. “But once Iran gets the bomb, our ability to confront their other malign activities will be diminished.”Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview that he’d seen “bone-chilling” assessments of how close Iran is to producing weapons-grade uranium. Others who have been briefed on the U.S. intelligence assessments say Iran could produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weaponBy: Blake Hounshell and Leah Askarinam
Title: The Democrat the White House Fears the Most
Sourced From: www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/politics/robert-menendez-biden-foreign-policy.html
Published Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 23:05:55 +0000
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