The new package of Russia sanctions, passed by a 97-2 vote in the Senate, was so far one of the strongest USA responses to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 u.s. presidential election.
"Not only did we pass a new round of tough sanctions for Russia's meddling in our election, we codified existing sanctions into law, making them harder to lift, and we moved to make the Congress - not the president - the final arbiter of sanctions relief when necessary", he said.
"The amendment to the underlying Iran sanctions bill maintains and substantially expands sanctions against the government of Russian Federation in response to the violation of the territorial integrity of the Ukraine and Crimea, its brazen cyber attacks and interference in elections, and its continuing aggression in Syria", said Republicans and Democrats on the committees.
The new sanctions are meant to punish Russian Federation for its role in the fighting in Syria and for interfering in the 2016 election.
They also agreed, by 97-2, to set up a process by which Congress can block any attempt by President Trump to scale back those sanctions.
Top lawmakers on two Senate committees announced the sanctions deal late Monday amid the firestorm over Russia's meddling in the presidential election and investigations into Moscow's possible collusion with members of President Donald Trump's campaign.
Adopted overwhelmingly as an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill, the measure targets Russia's cyber espionage entities, energy sector, financial interests, and the flow of Russian weaponry to war zones like Syria.
Senators say the bill won't impede enforcement of the nuclear agreement with Iran.
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The only two "no" votes on the Russian Federation bill were from Republican Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
AJC, which has sounded the alarm on the Iranian threat for decades, continues to lead advocacy efforts to keep pressure on the Iranian regime.
On the core Iran legislation, which includes new sanctions on ballistic missiles, terrorism sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a requirement that the president enforce the arms embargo, sponsor Sen.
It's not clear what exact changes the White House wants to make to the bill, or that those changes would actually weaken the proposed penalties against Russian Federation, but Senate Democrats have been attempting to sound an alarm over just that possibility.
The measure will now go to the House of Representatives where the path forward is not clear. Also included in the bill is an amendment strengthening sanctions for Russian officials who support cyberattacks against the USA and its allies.
"The president can't remove a sanction until he's given Congress notice and an opportunity to review", Cardin said.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the author of the bill, told reporters he hoped President Donald Trump would "acknowledge" the near-unanimous support among senators for tougher actions against Iran and Russian Federation.
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