As one senior administration official, the White house plans to work together with Republicans of the house of representatives to amend the Senate bill, which provides for new sanctions on Russia and limiting U.S. President Donald trump the ability to soften sanctions against Moscow.
The white house is concerned that this bill will tie his hands in Russian-American relations, as publicly expressed by Secretary of state USA Rex Tillerson (Rex Tillerson). But Senate Democrats fear that the White house may go too far in trying to preserve the possibility of dialogue with Russia, as well as to soften the bill, which on Thursday, June 15, was passed by 98 senators votes to two that became the most outstanding demonstration of the unity of Republicans and Democrats.
“I am concerned about this, but I have no way to dictate to the White house, that he should speak to the House of representatives, said in an interview with Democrat Tim Kane (Tim Kaine). — It’s hard to imagine that the House of representatives will defend Russia’s behavior after all the intelligence community said: “Look, they attacked US””.
The representative of the administration said that the White house supports the anti-Russian sanctions and the possible political consequences of the veto has not been discussed. Because the state Department is actively working with the Congress, the White house is confident that he has allies in the House of representatives, which is also concerned about the prospect of violations of the traditions and limitations of the control of the Executive branch on sanctions.
It is unclear how the Republican house of representatives will treat the request to the White house to leave trump the right to partially control the process of introducing, preserving and lifting of sanctions, which the Senate decided to end it. According to one source, the Republicans of the house of representatives have begun to consider the Senate bill that will be tabled in the house in the coming weeks.
But the Democrats of the Senate are concerned that the flow of information from news sources will help Trump — who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and who was at the center of an FBI investigation, trying to check on possible collusion between members of his campaign staff and the Kremlin to weaken the agreement on sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its interference in last year’s presidential election.
“I’m afraid the level of awareness is not as high as it should be, — said in his interview, the Senator-Democrat Richard Blumental (Richard Blumenthal). — If this bill will soften, we will soon once again be asking ourselves: how is it that we have again started to adapt to Russia?”
Senator Sherrod brown (Sherrod Brown), the leading Democrat in the banking Committee who took an active part in the negotiations on this package of sanctions, said in an interview that, to his knowledge, the administration trump asks members of the house of representatives “to delay it, block it”.
“That’s not what the administration requires from us, — said brown. — I applaud the courage of several of my colleagues from the Republican party who rejected the authority and made a move that will help protect our elections from interference by foreign powers”.
The Senate bill on sanctions against Russia, developed by senior members of both parties, imposes new sanctions against Russian defense sector, military intelligence and the energy sector. The bill also puts the sanctions into law, which significantly complicates the task of lifting them, if the White house decides to take this step, and allow Congress to block attempts by trump to soften or lift sanctions if congressmen will vote for them two thirds of the votes.
The Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on foreign relations Bob Corker (Bob Corker) earlier this week suggested that trump will not veto the sanctions package, if both houses of Congress approve it. After the adoption of this bill in the Senate, Corker wrote on his Twitter page that it “marked a significant shift of powers in favour of the representatives of the people, which was my priority since I took office as the head” of that Committee.
However, earlier this week, Tillerson made it clear that he is not in favor of this bill on sanctions, which would make U.S. “close channels” of relations with Russia. Although the White house has not yet announced its position in relation to this bill, on Thursday, June 15, Deputy press Secretary Sarah Sanders (Sarah Huckabee Sanders) tried to Express a tough stance White house against Russia and at the same time concern about the contents of the approved Senate bill.
“We believe that the existing sanctions regime, the Executive power is the best tool in order to force Russia to fulfill its obligations,” Sanders said to reporters on 15 June, adding that the Senate bill “must be approved by the House of representatives and as yet we have no final version, we can not evaluate it”.
The official representative of US State Department Nauert Heather (Heather Nauert) also refused to voice the official position of the administration regarding the Senate bill, while the House of representatives has not made a final decision on it. Neuert stressed the administration’s desire to improve relations with the Putin government, particularly in the area of combating terrorism.
“We continue to seek areas where both sides can work together, said Neuert. — We talked about how we believe that the U.S. and Russia can work together in order to defeat ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in Russia — approx. ed.).
The Senate made the veto less possible, by combining a package of anti-Russian sanctions bill on sanctions against Iran, which enjoys the support of Republicans and Democrats, and the administration. If the House of representatives would prefer a different approach to politics trump against Moscow, uneven vote in the upper house, likely to strengthen the position of the Senate in any negotiations.
“I just can’t understand how the Republicans, given all the vile actions of Russia, you can try to bury a bill or to radically change it, — said Democrat Robert Menendez (Robert Menendez). It means that the Republicans don’t want to do anything against Russia”.
The Chairman of the house Committee on international relations ed Royce (Ed Royce) confirmed their interest in the bill, which could penalize Russia for its attacks during the election campaign — for the intervention that trump a lot of times called merely an attempt by Democrats to make excuses for his defeat. In may, the House of representatives approved the introduction of sanctions against companies connected with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including against Russian companies — a proposal which the Senate has yet to consider.
“We are looking for ways to send additional signal” of Russia, — said Royce at the Committee meeting in may, focusing on two bills proposed by Democrats that impose sanctions against Moscow for its intervention in the elections.
But the Democrats of the Senate who have put a lot of effort in order to develop the most stringent anti-Russian sanctions, continue to fear for the fate of the bill. The organizer of the minority of the Senate dick Durbin (Dick Durbin) said that he would not be surprised if the administration attempts to weaken the Senate bill, given that “the President refused to admit that there is a problem with the Russian intervention in elections in the United States.”
To the question if he is afraid that the team, trump will be able to achieve inclusion in the bill desired changes while avoiding undue attention to their actions, Durbin answered briefly: “Yes.”
