GOP-Led Panel Eyes Russia, Turkey Sanctions, Countering Trump
GOP-Led Panel Eyes Russia, Turkey Sanctions, Countering Trump
(Bloomberg) -- A key Senate committee is pushing ahead with bills to sanction Turkey and Russia, along with a slew of other measures that could tie President Donald Trump’s hands when it comes to diplomacy and cultivating personal relationships with global leaders.
The hearing Wednesday by the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee comes the day after Trump met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House and the month after he hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington.
Trump has consistently spoken favorably of Russia and Turkey, even as his closest allies in Congress demand harsher consequences for aggression from both countries.
Foreign policy is the one area where Republican lawmakers have consistently sided with Democrats against the president. Four of the six bills Trump has vetoed were foreign policy measures, and recent legislation supporting Hong Kong protesters -- and angering China -- passed both the House and the Senate by veto-proof majorities.
The committee’s Wednesday session is the culmination of a year of lawmakers privately lobbying and publicly nudging Trump toward conventional bipartisan wisdom on foreign policy. Fresh provocations — the cancellation of a secret meeting with the Taliban and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria — helped unite both parties in opposition to many of Trump’s decisions, leading to a broad agenda to shore up alliances with some countries, and censure others.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a fierce Trump defender who has also criticized the president’s foreign policy decisions, said the Turkey sanctions bill to be considered Wednesday would pass the Senate by more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a Trump veto.
“I’ve been patient with Turkey -- enough with Turkey, OK?” Graham said this week. “They’re going the wrong direction.”
Sanctions on Turkey, a NATO Ally
Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria after Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops sparked several measures to sanction the NATO ally. The Foreign Relations Committee will consider the proposal from Chairman Jim Risch of Idaho and ranking Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey to penalize Turkey’s leaders, energy industry and financial system related that military action.
The bill, S. 2641, includes a provision to enforce the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which could freeze Turkish assets, restrict visas and limit access to credit as punishment for purchasing the Russian-made weapons.
U.S. lawmakers, including Risch and Graham, were furious when Turkey began testing the S-400 missile system acquired from Russia, and they urged the administration to follow through with the CAATSA sanctions already required by law. Erdogan’s refusal to heed their warnings while in Washington led to renewed calls for the Senate to act on the additional sanctions measure.
Risch said he didn’t “have any choice at this point.”
The Risch-Menendez bill would sanction state bank Halkbank within 15 days of the law being enacted, but it doesn’t include the ban on U.S. purchases of Turkish sovereign debt that Graham added to the bill he introduced with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Graham said in an interview this week he supports the Risch-Menendez proposal or whatever can pass the Senate quickly and be reconciled with a similar House bill passed in October.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would decide whether or not to bring the Senate version to the floor, warned Congress to “think extremely carefully” before using sanctions, a tool that could push a NATO ally “into the arms of the Russians.”
Long-Awaited Punishment for Russia’s Election Meddling
A measure that has been described as the “bill from hell,” would impose sanctions on Russian individuals, cyber operations and liquid natural gas export facilities in response to Russian interference in elections and other offenses. The bill, S. 482, also calls for the president to prescribe regulations for sanctions on sovereign debt issued 90 days after the law is enacted.
The Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act, or DASKA, would create a new cyberspace office within the State Department and would restrict any attempts to remove the U.S. from NATO.
Graham and Menendez initially introduced the measure in August 2018, but the proposal failed to get traction amid concern about unintended economic consequences and the difficulty of passing legislation that Trump doesn’t support.
Since then, however, concerns about foreign influence in next year’s elections has brought a renewed focus on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, and the committee’s Democratic minority pressured Republicans to act on the measure.
Sanctions on Russian Natural Gas Pipelines
Republicans including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, have been sounding the alarm that Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas presents an economic and security weakness for U.S. allies.
This bill from John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, would direct the secretary of State to come up with a plan to enhance the energy security of NATO allies and increase exports of U.S. energy to those countries. The bill, S. 1830, would expedite the approval of natural gas exports and would sanction individuals working with the Russian government on the construction of energy pipelines.
Aid for Energy Projects in Central and Eastern Europe
Similarly, this proposal from Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, seeks to encourage energy independence and diversification in Eastern Europe. The legislation, S. 704, authorizes as much as $1 billion to facilitate U.S. public and private investment in projects in the region, while also offering diplomatic and political support.
The House passed a similar bill in March.
Labeling Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism
A measure put forth by Senator Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, would require the State Department within 90 days of the law being enacted to determine whether Russia should be labeled a state sponsor of terrorism. The bill, S. 1189, would also give the State Department the same deadline to determine whether militants in eastern Ukraine are “controlled or aide” by Russia, according to the bill text.
The Ukraine conflict has taken on additional importance because of the impeachment allegation that Trump tried to subvert established diplomatic goals in that country for his own personal gain. Witnesses told House committees Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in aid to help Ukraine defend against Russian aggression, in exchange for politically motivated investigations.
Requiring Congressional Consent to Withdraw from NATO
There has been bipartisan concern that Trump could unilaterally withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and this resolution, S.J. Res. 4, would require either Congress’s approval or a new law to take such a step.
Trump last week traveled to London for a largely ceremonial meeting to mark NATO’s 70th anniversary. He has consistently urged other members of the alliance to meet defense-spending goals, and the meeting’s final communique pointed out that non-U.S. military outlays have risen for five years in a row.
The bill is sponsored by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and has broad bipartisan support.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, John Harney
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