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Durbin Repeatedly Refers to Iran Nuclear Deal as a 'Treaty'

Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) erroneously referred to the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration as a "treaty" multiple times on Wednesday before correcting himself and noting it is an "agreement."

Durbin called the debate a "serious foreign policy question" and "we have added into this conversation the decision of Congress as to whether they approve the president's treaty. That doesn't often happen, but it will in this case. We have to look at the possibility that Congress will reject the Iran treaty."

CNN posted an op/ed on the difference in March:

If it looks like a treaty, walks like a treaty and talks like a treaty, is it a treaty. According to the White House, only if the President of the United States says it is.

That's infuriating Republicans and even some Democrats, who are demanding that the Obama administration submit any final nuclear deal with Iran to Congress for approval.

"This is clearly a treaty," Arizona Sen. John McCain told reporters Tuesday. "They can call it a banana, but it's a treaty."

The GOP position could jeopardize the long-term survival of any Iran deal, and it represents the party's newest clash with President Barack Obama over the limits of executive authority, as Republicans object to a pact they warn could eventually give Tehran a nuclear bomb.

It's that skepticism that has largely led the White House to define the deal as a "nonbinding agreement" rather than a "treaty," which the Constitution requires Senate "advice and consent" on.

The distinction -- and whether it can legitimately be used to shut out Congress -- turns on complicated and unresolved questions of constitutional law. While Republicans call foul, the administration defends the differentiation as perfectly sound, and no surprise.

Secretary of State John Kerry stressed Wednesday that the administration never intended to negotiate a treaty.

With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress and lined up fully against the deal since it was announced July 14, President Obama is seeking en0ugh Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate to make it impossible to override his veto of any resolution of disapproval.