The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved legislation that included tougher new sanctions against Russian Federation and Iran, making it more hard for President Donald Trump to ease existing restrictions without congressional approval.
The amendment on Russian Federation, which passed in a 97-2 vote on Wednesday, was attached to a bill to strengthen sanctions on Iran.
The bipartisan measure would require the president to inform Congress before taking any action that could alter U.S. foreign policy "with regard to the Russian federation", including changes to the sanctions regime imposed by Obama in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and meddling in the 2016 presidential 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.
The Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to enact new sanctions against Russian Federation and make it hard for President Donald Trump to lift them.
The White House stressed that it is committed to the existing Russian sanctions regime that it believes is best suited to address U.S. concerns and would keep sanctions in place until Russia resolves the situation in Ukraine.
The Senate nearly unanimously approved legislation Thursday that slaps sanctions on Iran and Russian Federation.
New York Times Sues FBI To Get Documents Of Trump-Comey Talks
A close Trump associate said this week the president was considering firing Mueller, although the White House later denied it. Vice President Mike Pence has also hired a private lawyer to represent his interests in the expanding probe.
Previously, US energy sanctions had only targeted Russia's future high-tech energy projects, such as drilling for oil in the Arctic, fracking and offshore drilling.
If approved, the legislation will then be approved by the House of Representatives and, finally, be signed into law by President Donald Trump.
If signed into law, the document would prohibit the United States president from being able to lift sanctions without Congressional approval.
The bill includes new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program and "continued support for terrorism".
The amendment also allows "broad new sanctions on key sectors of Russia's economy, including mining, metals, shipping and railways" and authorizes "robust assistance to strengthen democratic institutions and counter disinformation across Central and Eastern European countries that are vulnerable to Russian aggression and interference". Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. "The Crapo-Brown-Corker-Cardin bill will result in some very powerful, new sanctions against Russian Federation". He asked lawmakers "to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions to meet the needs of what is always an evolving diplomatic situation".
Trump could veto the bill, but with that kind of bipartisan support, he would be unlikely to get his way.
"What I wouldn't want to do is close the channels off", Tillerson said.
Comments