House Passes Russian Sanctions Bill With Overwhelming Majority
CNN reporting that the House passed their modified Russian Sanctions bill 419-3.
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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill giving Congress the power to block any effort by the White House to weaken sanctions on Russia, offering a direct challenge to President Donald Trump's authority.
The vote was 419-3. The legislation moves to the Senate, but it's unclear when the Senate will vote on the measure, which includes new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. Senate foreign relations committee chairman Bob Corker indicated Monday he may want to make some tweaks to the bill, which was negotiated between the House and Senate after the initial version he drafted sailed through on a 98-2 vote.
"This is a strong, bipartisan bill that will increase the United States' economic and political leverage," Rep. Ed Royce, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters Tuesday.
The House action came hours after Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law and senior adviser, wrapped up an interview with the House intelligence committee about the 2016 campaign and allegations that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian officials to help defeat Hillary Clinton. On Monday he met with staff on the Senate intelligence panel and said afterward that he didn't collude with Russia and didn't know anyone from the campaign who did.
The key part of the bill is that it severely (though not entirely) curtails the Administration's ability to lift Russian sanctions- which it has been trying to do since Trump got into office in January.
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“There was serious consideration by the White House to unilaterally rescind the sanctions,” according to Dan Fried, who retired in February as Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the State Department.
Fried told veteran investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, a former national investigative correspondent for NBC News and Newsweek alumnus, that in the early weeks of the administration he got several “panicky” calls from U.S. officials. They asked: “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?”
