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Bipartisan Bill Would Require Oversight of Any Deal With North Korea

Members have expressed concerns about Trump’s zeal to make a deal

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, will introduce legislation to require President Donald Trump to brief Congress on North Korea. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, will introduce legislation to require President Donald Trump to brief Congress on North Korea. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants President Donald Trump’s administration to brief Congress on its negotiations with North Korea.

The bill, titled the “North Korea Nuclear Baseline Act,” was obtained by Reuters before its public release.

Some members have expressed concern that Trump will concede too much in his zeal to make a deal. The legislation would require the administration to provide a status report to national security committees in the House and Senate within 60 days of any deal to give lawmakers a “baseline” from which to judge progress.

New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, introduced the legislation.

“As advances negotiations with North Korea, Congress must provide oversight to ensure NK is upholding their commitments,” McCaul said of the legislation.

The details would include the location of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and research and production facilities. It would also require reporting the location of ballistic missiles and where they are produced, Reuters reported.

The summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is slated to begin on June 12 in Singapore. Trump has talked of the prospects of accomplishing something “very meaningful,” but lately has conceded that it might take several meetings to reach a deal.

Watch: Congress Debates Immigration and Appropriations, But Trump’s Focused on North Korea and Mueller

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