Senate approves sanctions bill to punish Russia for meddling
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Jun 14, 3:06 PM EDT
Senate approves
sanctions bill to punish Russia for meddling
By RICHARD LARDNER
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-led Senate
voted decisively to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 election by
approving a wide-ranging sanctions package that targets key sectors of Russia's
economy and individuals who carried out cyber attacks.
Senators on Wednesday passed the bipartisan
sanctions legislation 97-2, underscoring broad support among Republicans and
Democrats for rebuking Russia after U.S. intelligence agencies determined
Moscow had deliberately interfered in the presidential campaign. Lawmakers who
backed the measure also cited Russia's aggression in Syria and Ukraine.
Despite Russia's bellicosity, there's been no
forceful response from President Donald Trump. The president has instead sought
to improve relations with Moscow and rejected the implication that Russian
hacking of Democratic emails tipped the election his way.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's "brazen
attack on our democracy is a flagrant demonstration of his disdain and disrespect
for our nation," Sen. John Mccain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of
the Armed Services Committee, said ahead of the vote.
"But in the last eight months, what price
has Russia paid for attacking American democracy?" Mccain said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered tepid
support for the sanctions measure, telling the House Foreign Affairs Committee
he agreed "with the sentiment" among lawmakers that Russia must be
held accountable for its meddling in the election.
But Tillerson urged Congress to make the
sanctions legislation doesn't tie the president's hands and shut down promising
avenues of communication between the two former Cold War foes. 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."
If the Trump administration decides to oppose the
new sanctions, they could be in a bind.
The sanctions measure has been attached to
a bill imposing penalties on Iran that the Senate is currently debating and
which also has strong bipartisan support.
So the White House would have to reject stricter
punishments against Iran, which it favors, in order to derail the parts of the
legislation it may object to.
Once the Iran bill is passed, the legislation
moves to the House for action.
The leaders of the Senate Banking and Foreign
Relations committees announced late Monday that they'd reached an agreement on
the sanctions package after intensive negotiations.
The deal was forged amid the firestorm over
investigations into Moscow's possible collusion with members of Trump's
campaign. House and Senate committees are investigating Russia's meddling and
potential links to the Trump campaign. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is
conducting a separate probe.
The measure calls for strengthening current
sanctions and imposing new ones on a broad range of people, including Russians
engaged in corruption, individuals in Human rights abuses and anyone supplying
weapons to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Broad new sanctions would be imposed on Russia's
mining, metals, shipping and railways sectors.
The measure would punish individuals who conduct
what the senators described as "conducting malicious cyber activity on
behalf of the Russian government." Also covered by the sanctions are
people doing business with Russian intelligence and defense agencies.
The package also would require a congressional
review if a president attempts to ease or end current penalties. The review
mechanism was styled after 2015 legislation pushed by Republicans and approved
overwhelmingly in the Senate that gave Congress a vote on whether Obama could
lift sanctions against Iran. That measure reflected Republican complaints that
Obama had overstepped the power of the presidency and needed to be checked by
Congress.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the
Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said the Senate has finally
confronted Russia.
"This bipartisan amendment is the sanctions
regime that the Kremlin deserves for its actions," Shaheen said.
