House passes Russia sanctions bill, setting up veto dilemma for Trump VIDEO

House passes Russia sanctions bill, setting up veto dilemma for Trump



The House voted to advance new financial sanctions against Russia on July 25. (U.S. House of Representatives)
By Mike DeBonis and Karoun Demirjian July 25
The House on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to advance new financial sanctions against key U.S. adversaries and deliver a foreign-policy brushback to President Trump by limiting his ability to waive many of them.

Included in the package, which passed 419 to 3, are new measures targeting key Russian officials in retaliation for that country’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as sanctions against Iran and North Korea in response to those nations’ weapons programs.

Members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, have resisted the congressional push — in particular a provision attached to the Russian measures that would require Congress to sign off on any move to relieve those sanctions.

[U.S. attempt to handcuff Trump on Russia could backfire, Europe says]

The legislation was revised last week to address some administration concerns, including its potential effect on overseas oil and gas projects that include Russian partners. But the bill passed Tuesday retains the congressional review requirement.

Play Video 2:01
Will Trump sign a new Russia sanctions bill? White House, senators respond.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on July 23 said President Trump’s administration “is supportive” of new legislation imposing sanctions on Russia. Senators from both parties said Trump ought to sign the bill after it passes. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“These three regimes in different parts of the world are threatening vital U.S. interests, and they are destabilizing their neighbors,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.) said Tuesday. “It is well past time that we forcefully respond.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say Monday whether Trump would sign or veto the bill, adding that the president “has been very vocal about his support for continuing sanctions on those three countries.” The administration did not issue a formal statement laying out its position, as is customary for major bills.

“He has no intention of getting rid of them, but he wants to make sure we get the best deal for the American people possible,” Sanders said. “Congress does not have the best record on that. . . . He’s going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like.”

The House voted hours after one of Trump’s closest advisers, son-in-law Jared Kushner, visited the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to give testimony on possible Russian involvement in the presidential campaign. Also Tuesday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence interviewed former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has had close ties with Ukraine’s former Moscow-aligned government.

Kushner was interviewed Monday by the Senate panel and issued a statement afterward denying wrongdoing. “I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so,” he said.

[Analysis: Jared Kushner’s ‘I did not collude’ statement, parsed]

But the administration’s posture toward Russia has emerged as one of the few areas where congressional Republicans have been willing to openly buck the White House’s wishes.

An initial Senate bill targeting Iran and Russia passed in June on a vote of 98 to 2, with only Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed.

That bill hit a procedural snag over claims that it ran afoul of the constitutional requirement that revenue bills originate in the House. The roadblock came as Trump administration officials stepped up a lobbying campaign against it, prompting Democrats to accuse House GOP leaders of stalling on Trump’s behalf.

New obstacles emerged earlier this month. House Democrats objected to Senate changes to the bill that could freeze out the House minority’s ability to block sanctions relief. The energy industry also raised concerns that U.S. companies could be frozen out of projects with Russian partners.

House leaders agreed to vote on an expanded version of the bill last week after adding sanctions aimed at freezing North Korea’s nuclear program and targeting banks that aid its government. The measures against Pyongyang, which passed the House 419 to 1 as a stand-alone bill in May, were inserted at the request of House Republican leaders.

Democrats were more aggressive during floor debate Tuesday than Republicans in casting the bill — and its congressional review requirement — as a rebuke of Trump’s foreign policy.

“This is critical at a moment when our allies are uncertain about where this administration stands with respect to Russian aggression,” said House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who brokered a deal on the bill with GOP House leaders. He said that Congress could pursue additional sanctions targeting the Russian energy industry if Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and allies “fail to heed the message of this bill that their business as usual cannot and must not continue.”

The House voted under special procedures for noncontroversial bills expected to pass with a two-thirds majority. The near-unanimity means the House could override a presidential veto.

“The bill we just passed with overwhelming bipartisan support is one of the most expansive sanctions packages in history,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement after the vote. “It tightens the screws on our most dangerous adversaries in order to keep Americans safe.”

The Senate has not yet had the chance to vet the sanctions against Pyongyang, but Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters Monday that he expects the House bill to pass the Senate, with “minor details” about procedure still to be worked out.

Corker said he was exploring ways to ensure the bill would be sent to Trump before the end of the week, when House members are set to leave Washington for a five-week recess. “We’d like to get this thing passed and into law,” he said.

“It seems we may be on the floor before we ironed out all the differences with the other body,” said Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs panel, pointing to differences on the North Korean provisions. “I hope that’s not the case.”



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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-prepares-to-pass-sanctions-bill--and-set-up-veto-dilemma-for-trump/2017/07/25/ece80164-7138-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html