S. 615 would establish a Congressional review process for any long-term, comprehensive agreement reached with Iran on that country’s nuclear program and would require the Administration to provide several reports and certifications to the Congress if an agreement is reached. Under the bill, the Congress would have a set period to review the agreement during which the President would be barred from providing Iran additional relief from sanctions.
While delaying such relief could have budgetary effects, CBO has no basis for determining when or if an agreement will be reached with Iran and whether or how the President would provide additional relief from sanctions if such an agreement is reached. Therefore, CBO cannot determine whether enacting this legislation would affect the federal budget. Because enacting S. 615 could affect direct spending and revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.
S. 615 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On March 27, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 792, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015, as reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on January 29, 2015. Both bills would require the President to submit any agreement reached with Iran to the Congress, but S. 792 also would impose new sanctions on Iran if no such agreement is reached or if the President does not submit the agreement to the Congress. CBO estimated that implementing S. 792 would increase both revenues and spending subject to appropriation and have insignificant effects on direct spending.
