The
House and Senate reached a deal Saturday to slap Russia with fresh
sanctions and give Congress new veto power to block any easing of those
sanctions -- an agreement that could send a new bill to President Donald
Trump's desk before the end of the month.
House
and Senate negotiators announced an agreement was reached Saturday
morning for a bill that would include new sanctions against Russia,
Iran, and North Korea.
Despite
the White House lobbying for changes to the measure, the legislation
will give Congress a new ability to block the administration from easing
sanctions on Moscow. Democrats and some Republicans have expressed
concerns that Trump is considering giving Russia back two compounds in
Maryland and New York that were seized by the Obama administration in
December.
"Given the many
transgressions of Russia, and President Trump's seeming inability to
deal with them, a strong sanctions bill such as the one Democrats and
Republicans have just agreed to is essential," Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "I expect the House and Senate will
act on this legislation promptly, on a broad bipartisan basis and send
the bill to the President's desk."
The
House will vote on the bill on Tuesday, according to House Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy's schedule, and the Senate is likely to take it up
after that, although Senate leaders haven't said when they will bring
it to the floor. Congressional aides say they expect Trump will sign the
bill because it will likely pass both chambers with strong, veto-proof
majorities.
In a text message to CNN, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he sees the agreement "quite negatively."
The
agreement on the sanctions was the result of an often contentious,
month-long back-and-forth between the House and Senate after the Senate
passed a bill for new sanctions against Russia and Iran 98 to 2 in June.
The
bill faced a so-called blue slip constitutional problem that revenue
generating legislation must originate in the House. That was fixed after
a negotiation between the two chambers, but then House Democrats
objected to another tweak that removed their ability to force a vote to
stop the easing of sanctions.
McCarthy
then said he wanted to add North Korean sanctions legislation that the
House passed in May to the measure, prompting Democrats to accuse
Republicans of stalling the bill on behalf of the White House, which was
lobbying against the congressional review provision.
Numerous US companies also wanted changes over concerns the bill could inadvertently impact their businesses.
"My
preference over the last month had been for the House to take up and
adopt the legislation that passed the Senate 98-2; however I welcome the
House bill, which was the product of intense negotiations," said
Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign
relations committee. "I believe the proposed changes to the bill have
helped to clarify the intent of members of Congress as well as express
solidarity with our closest allies in countering Russian aggression and
holding the Kremlin accountable for their destabilizing activities."
CNN reported Friday
that the deal addressed some of the concerns of US companies while
keeping in the congressional review portion, besides making technical
changes. To address House Democrats' complaints, the bill gives any
House member the ability to force a vote to disapprove of sanctions if
the Senate passes it first.
"The
legislation ensures that both the majority and minority are able to
exercise our oversight role over the administration's implementation of
sanctions," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said in a statement
Saturday. "I look forward to seeing this legislation on the Floor next
week, where I'm confident it will receive strong, bipartisan support."
The
bill was also changed to ensure that it didn't affect a major pipeline
used to transport oil from Kazakhstan through Russia to Ukraine as well
as a natural gas pipeline that goes between Russia and Germany.
The
revised bill also clarifies that American companies cannot do business
with already-sanctioned defense interests in Russia, as there were
concerns US companies that want to finalize transportation deals could
be barred from doing so under the initial bill's restrictions.
