Overnight Defense: Congress braces for Netanyahu speech

THE TOPLINE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday will deliver his controversial address to Congress, where he is expected to criticize the White House's efforts to close a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The speech has divided Capitol Hill, with more than 50 Democrats planning to skip the speech. The White House has criticized the planned address, which was arranged by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), without the administration's knowledge. Netanyahu said Monday that he does not intend to "inject Israel into the American partisan debate." "The last thing that I would want is for Israel to become a partisan issue, and I regret that some people have perceived my visit here this week as doing that," he said at the conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Instead, he said his country could not stand idly by in the face of threats from Iran. "I plan to speak about an Iranian regime that is threatening to destroy Israel, that's devouring country after country in the Middle East, that's exporting terror throughout the world and is developing, as we speak, the capacity to make nuclear weapons. A lot of them," he said. President Obama on Monday also denied any personal tension between himself and Netanyahu and said the speech would not be "permanently destructive" to the countries' ties. "This is not a personal issue. I think that it is important for every country in its relationship with the United States to recognize that the U.S. has a process of making policy,” said Obama. LAWMAKERS WANT SAY ON IRAN DEAL: Lawmakers are getting antsy about a possible Iran deal, as the March 24 deadline for a framework agreement approaches. On Monday, House Foreign Affairs Committee leaders circulated a letter among their colleagues calling for congressional involvement if a deal is struck. The two-page document -- authored by panel Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and ranking member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) -- states that should the administration reach an agreement with Tehran, "permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation." The letter also comes days after a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would give Congress a say on any nuclear deal the administration reaches with Iran. The president this weekend threatened to veto the proposed legislation. The White House on Monday said an Iranian nuclear deal would not preclude additional sanctions or military action if Tehran reneges on any promise to not obtain a nuclear weapon. "If they indicate that they are not willing to comply with an agreement once one is signed, then we continue to have all of these options on the table," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during Monday's press briefing, adding that the Obama administration is committed to ensuring that Iran doesn't obtain a nuclear weapon. "The president is making decisions about our foreign policy with the foreign policy interests of the United States at the forefront," he said. WHITE HOUSE DENIES THREAT TO ISRAELI JETS: The White House flatly denied a weekend report that the president threatened to strike Israeli jets if Israel decided to attack Iranian nuclear sites in 2014. "The reports -- like many of the 'reports' emerging coincidentally this week about the Iran talks -- are completely false," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement emailed to The Hill. The rebuttal came after a Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Jarida, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had planned to strike Iran in 2014 after discovering the U.S. and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu was forced to abort the attack after Obama's threat, Al-Jaridareported on Saturday. The report said an Israeli minister revealed the attack plans to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama threatened to shoot the jets down before they reached their targets. LAWMAKERS WANT MORE DEFENSE SPENDING: House and Senate lawmakers are drawing a line in the sand for more defense spending in the next fiscal year. The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to their colleagues saying defense spending should be restored to $577 billion -- the level planned before sequestration was triggered by the 2011 Budget Control Act -- and $51 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). "At a time when real worldwide threats are growing, we are compounding those dangers with a national security crisis of our own making," according to panel Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.). The White House has proposed a base defense budget of $535 billion for 2016, busting the cap put in place by the 2011 budget deal. "[All] four of the military service chiefs testified that American lives are being put at risk by the caps on defense spending mandated in the BCA," according to McCain and Reed. "We cannot pretend that we can avoid these choices. As growing global threats increase the demands on our military, we must either increase our resources to meet our strategic requirements, or we must reduce our strategic requirements to match our limited resources. We cannot have it both ways," the pair added. Meanwhile, 70 House Republicans sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to at least match the president's request. "While we understand the current fiscal constraints and the continued burden placed on non-defense programs as a result of the president's sequestration, we cannot afford to jeopardize the safety and security of the homeland and our interests abroad," the group -- led by Rep. Michael Turner (Ohio) -- said. "Seventy individual members have made it clear that a budget that fails to fully fund defense will not pass the House of Representatives," Turner, who chairs the Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, said in a statement. "Every member who signed this letter was unwavering in their commitment to vote against a budget resolution that fails to fully fund national defense at or above the $561 billion identified by the president in his budget request," he added. TUESDAY'S AGENDA: The House Armed Services Committee will gavel in at 10 a.m. to hear from U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Lloyd Austin and Christine Wormuth, under secretary of defense for policy, about the president's proposed war resolution against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Lawmakers from both chambers will gather at 11 a.m. for an address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is expected to express his country's concerns about the administration's effort to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. Ashton Carter will make his inaugural Capitol Hill appearance as Defense Secretary at 2:30 p.m. when he appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee to go over the Pentagon's fiscal 2016 budget request. At 4 p.m., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a classified update from administration officials about the U.S.-led coalition campaign against ISIS. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: -- Cheney to meet with senior House GOP Monday -- GOP lawmaker: Air Force A-10 moves are 'overkill' -- Navy SEAL: Light counterterrorism strategy in Yemen 'a fantasy' -- Spy chief: No threat from Americans who aided militants in Syria -- Hoyer expects Boehner will bring 'clean' DHS funding bill to vote Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @thehill, @kristina_wong, @martinmatishak