Schumer Will Force Vote Tuesday on Deripaska-Firm Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he will force a vote Tuesday on a measure to block the Treasury Department’s plans to lift sanctions on three Russian companies linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer said the Treasury Department’s Dec. 19 decision was “deeply flawed and wrong,” and would benefit a Russian magnate who he said has “effectively acted as agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s interests abroad.”

The Treasury Department’s decision sparked a backlash from Democratic lawmakers who are questioning the administration’s motives in lifting sanctions against three companies Deripaska controls: United Co. Rusal, En+ Group Plc and EuroSibEnergo JSC. Deripaska was once a client of President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and their work together has come under scrutiny as part of Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s probe.

Schumer’s effort will put Senate Republicans in the uncomfortable spot of having to take a stand against the administration or to side with the controversial decision to lift the sanctions. His move would draw on a provision in a 2017 sanctions law that lets him him force a full vote in the Senate disapproving of sanctions relief within 30 days after such an action.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will come to the Capitol Tuesday to make his case for easing the sanctions in a lunch meeting with all Senate Republicans, said GOP Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a top adviser to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“He’s going to come over and make the best case for the administration’s position and we’re going to have a discussion,” Cornyn said.

Senate Republican leaders do not have a position on the measure and lawmakers are still gathering information to decide how they will vote, said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 GOP leader.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, said he expects to vote against the disapproval resolution.

“The Treasury Department has gone through this with a fine-tooth comb and determined that these companies -- it’s not Deripaska, it’s the companies -- that the companies fall out of the sanctions,” Risch said.

Democrats have just 47 seats in the Senate, so some Republican support would be needed. A full 60 votes are needed to prevent opponents from blocking a final vote, and a simple majority of 51 votes in the GOP-controlled chamber is needed to bring it up and to pass it in a final vote. The House also must act by a strict Jan. 17 deadline for sanctions to be retained.

House Democrats last week met in a classified session with Mnuchin to discuss his decision to lift the sanctions, with some afterward saying they weren’t satisfied with his answers. Mnuchin didn’t indicate he might change his mind, but suggested he could extend a deadline for lifting the sanctions to give lawmakers more time to examine the matter.

Mnuchin’s action keeps intact earlier U.S. sanctions against Deripaska himself, but the Treasury Department removed financial restrictions on the three firms after an agreement to significantly reduce the oligarch’s ownership stake.

In his remarks on the Senate floor, Schumer said that decision is faulty because other Russian shareholders with ties to Deripaska, including his ex-wife and father-in-law, can maintain their interests in the companies. Schumer also argued that any change to the sanctions is inappropriate while Mueller’s probe is ongoing.

A spokesman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland didn’t immediately respond to a query about any plans for a House vote on the legislation blocking the Treasury decision.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Justin Blum

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