White House critical Russia sanctions bill stalled in House

Democrats, GOP blame each other for legislation delay.

WASHINGTON — A new package of economic sanctions on Russia and Iran unacceptably constrains the president’s authority, the White House says, as Democrats complain that the Trump administration is trying to weaken the penalties.

The legislation sailed through the Senate nearly a month ago in response to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and its belligerence toward Ukraine. But the bill stalled in the House, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for the delay.

Marc Short, the White House legislative director, told reporters that the administration backs the new sanctions on Russia and Iran. But he appeared to object to a key part of the legislation that would give Capitol Hill a much stronger hand in determining Russia sanctions policy. The bill would require a congressional review to ease or end penalties.

“Our concern is that the legislation, we believe, sets an unusual precedent of delegating foreign policy to 535 members of Congress by not including certain national security waivers that have always been consistently part of sanctions bills in the past,” Short said.

Following his lengthy meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany, Trump said he wants to move toward “working constructively with Russia”

Officials from the Treasury and State departments met last week with House congressional staff to voice their concerns over the congressional review section of the bill.

But weakening that provision substantially could provoke resistance from Republicans and Democrats. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, heralded the review requirement as the proper exercise of congressional authority.

Corker told reporters Monday that it’s not unusual for a White House to resist oversight of foreign policy. But he said the sanctions review requirement is a “very important” part of the legislation.

Ashley Etienne, a spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Democrats have been demanding for weeks that the House Republican leadership bring the sanctions bill to the floor for a vote.

A key sticking point for Democrats is a proposed technical change to the bill made late last month by the Senate that Democratic aides said Monday would prevent rank-and-file House members from being able to challenge a president’s decision to lift or ease the sanctions against Russia.

But AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, blamed House Democrats for holding up the bill unnecessarily.

While Congress was on its weeklong July 4 recess, a new wrinkle developed that could make approval of the legislation more difficult.

The American Petroleum Institute said late last week that the bill would expand a prohibition on U.S. energy companies from being involved in oil projects located in Russia to projects around the world that include Russian energy firms.