Obama Reserves Judgment on Russia Sanctions Measure
President Barack Obama is still reviewing the Russia sanctions legislation lawmakers advanced through the Senate on Dec. 13, said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest in a briefing two days later. House Reps. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, introduced the measure on Dec. 11, and the chamber quickly passed the bill.
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The legislation, HR-5859 (here), is based largely on a bill recently floated by Senate Foreign Affairs Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and ranking member Bob Corker, R-Tenn., which also passed the Senate on Dec. 11 (here). The measure boosts U.S. support and authorizes lethal aid for the Ukrainian government, assistance some supporters of the bill say is necessary to confront continued Russian aggression and involvement in eastern Ukraine. The Russian-state weapons trader Rosoboronexport, as well as other Russian defense article traders, producers and brokers, will face stiffer U.S. sanctions if Obama signs the legislation into law. The bill also cracks down on Russian energy and financial services sectors.
The measure passed unanimously through both chambers of Congress, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers then lobbied hard for the president’s signature. “With this support, we underline our strong moral commitment to the cause of the Ukrainian people,” said Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Meanwhile, some trade associations lashed out at the move. The bill “will impede the Administration’s ability to calibrate sanctions as part of the U.S./EU effort to change Russia’s conduct in Ukraine,” said USA*Engage Vice President Richard Sawaya in a Dec. 12 statement before the Senate passage of the version sent to the president’s desk (here). “Adding more sanctions perforce will put U.S. businesses with operations and strategic investments in Russia across multiple sectors at further risk, whatever the outcome in Ukraine.”