U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler says President Barack Obama’s proposed agreement with Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons is bad.

“I believe it was flawed from the very start,” Kelly said in an interview with the Butler Eagle this past week.

The agreement, announced in July, is designed to limit Iran’s access to materials that can be used to make nuclear weapons in exchange for removing sanctions against the country.

It is backed by the United States and five other countries.

He said the premise behind some sort of agreement is to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. However, he said the proposed agreement “positively ensures” Iran will get nuclear weapons in 8 to 10 years.

Kelly wonders why the agreement does not call for Iran to free the four U.S. citizens who the country has kept imprisoned.

He said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claims this is because the agreement is specifically about nuclear arms and not other diplomatic matters. However, Kelly noted the proposal also deals with other ballistic missiles.

He said Obama is making a stark contrast, saying the only options in dealing with Iran are this agreement or war with Iran. Kelly said Obama should explain why these are the only two options that exist.

Kelly foresees both the House and the Senate will vote the agreement down in September, and then Obama will veto that action. To override that veto, Kelly said the House will need to pick up at least 45 more “no” votes and the Senate will need a few extra “no” votes.

Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced he would vote with the Republicans against the deal, saying it was weak. Kelly said Schumer’s pronouncement “cut the shackles” of other lawmakers, and he believes more Democrats are going to come out against the agreement.

One thing that makes dealing with that part of the world complicated, Kelly said, is leaders and people there do not think in terms of countries. He said they think in terms of tribes against tribes.

“There’s a level of hate that we can’t comprehend,” Kelly said.

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At the end of July, Congress passed a three-month extension to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund funded until Oct. 29. Obama is calling for a more long-term solution to transportation funding.

“Paying for it is the hard thing,” Kelly said.

Some Republicans have proposed a gas tax as a long-term solution. Kelly said that might be OK in states like Ohio with a low state gas tax, but he noted Pennsylvania already has higher gas prices due to its state gas tax.

He said a gas tax would hurt “everyday folks.”

Kelly said he likes GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s idea of fiscal repatriating, where corporations that make money overseas are required to bring the money back to the U.S., where it would face a one-time tax.

He said there is $1.7 trillion to $2.4 trillion corporate earnings overseas. Even a low tax on those funds could generate $160 billion, he said. This money could be used to rebuild roads, he said.

Additionally, Kelly said money coming back to the U.S. could be used by businesses to boost the U.S. economy.

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Among the 17 Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential election, there are a few candidates he likes.

He said this election is an opportunity for citizens to elect an “executive” who could run the United State’s vast assets. He said he really likes the former HP CEO Carly Fiorina.

“I’m a big Carly Fiorina fan,” Kelly said.

He also said he is a fan of the current or former governors who are running, such as Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee and John Kasich.

“They’ve done marvelous things,” Kelly said, noting they also worked to bring the GOP and the Democrats together in their state governments.

When it comes to selecting a president, he said people who have executive experience putting together teams and making budgets are needed.

The next president needs a good resume, he said, which he feels is a major issue with Obama.

Kelly said Obama is a nice, smart person, who has an amazing background, but he said Obama’s achievements in the legislative and executive branches are relatively few.

He said Obama inherited a bad situation, but he did not make it any better, and Kelly said he does not have good advisers.

Kelly also said there is less stability in the world and the U.S. has less political clout.

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Kelly also touted the Coal Country Protection Act, which he reintroduced in June to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from enacting new regulations on power plants unless certain criteria are met — such as no job losses and no higher energy rates.

He said higher EPA standards for coal are a problem, which he said he has heard about from EPA employees themselves.

“No matter what they do, it will never be clean enough,” Kelly said about the EPA’s view of using coal.

However, Kelly said coal today is much cleaner and safer to extract due to improved mining techniques, making black lung disease a thing of the past. He said about 40 percent of the country’s electricity comes from coal.