Senate breaks deadlock on Ukraine measures, sends bills to House
While Congress delivered nearly $14 billion in military and humanitarian aide to Ukraine as part of a recent government-wide spending bill, it was not passed any stand-alone legislation pertaining to the conflict. Efforts to draft a sanctions bill before the invasion as a deterrent fell apart, and post-invasion legislation has not been much easier.
Thursday’s votes also come as new evidence of potential war crimes emerged this week from areas around Kyiv following a Russian retreat from the area — bringing new pressure to bear on the U.S. and other western powers to mount an even stronger response to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Civilians slaughtered with their hands tied behind their backs. Corpses bearing clear signs of torture. Bodies burned to hide evidence of rape,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who oversees trade matters as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement. “This package is about bringing every tool of economic pressure to bear on Vladimir Putin and his oligarch cronies. Putin’s Russia does not deserve to be a part of the economic order that has existed since the end of World War II.”
The trade bill, which passed 100-0 removes Russia from the long list of countries that enjoy so-called “permanent normal trade relations” and adds it to a much smaller list of pariah states, such as Cuba and North Korea, who do not. The designation, which Biden has already been made by executive order, means that Russian imports — which amounted to about $30 billion in 2022 — will be subject to higher tariffs.
The bill also orders U.S. officials to seek Russia’s expulsion from the World Trade Organization and reauthorizes human-rights sanction authority that has been used against members of Putin’s inner circle. The latter provision contributed to the delay in the Senate after some conservatives, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), objected to a change in the sanctions’ applicability — from “gross” human-rights violations to merely “serious” violations.
Some conservative groups claimed the change could open the door for a future president to sanction officials abroad who support right-wing policy positions, such as a ban on legal abortion. The measure’s bipartisan sponsors rejected the suggestion but agree to keep the existing standard this week to speed passage of the bill.
A second bill, which passed 100-0, codifies the already-announced ban on Russian energy imports, including shipments of petroleum products that comprised a third of all trade between the U.S. and Russia last year. A third bill, which passed by the unanimous consent Wednesday night, would authorize allow the Pentagon to streamline its arms transfer arrangements with Ukraine in a manner that senators are comparing to the “lend-lease” effort that the U.S. undertook during World War II.
“This is one important way we can send a message to our friends and allies around the world that you are not alone, that America can be trusted, that our commitments are credible and they will be met not just with words, but with action,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a sponsor of the lend-lease bill.
The trade bill and oil bill are expected to be taken up later Thursday in the House, where similar bills have already passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, while the fate of the lend-lease bill is less clear.
The Russia-Ukraine bills passed on the Senate’s last day of business before a two-week recess. They moved along while another top legislative priority for Democrats — a new tranche of coronavirus relief funding — remained mired in partisan politics.
While bipartisan negotiators reached a $10 billion accord earlier this week, Republicans demanded to attach an amendment barring the Biden administration from lifting a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 that has effectively suspended the normal asylum process at the southern border.
The holdup has frustrated Democrats, who have warned of dwindling U.S. stockpiles of vaccines and therapeutic drugs as the BA. 2 coronavirus subvariant threatens to again increase the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. But with the funding in limbo, party leaders were glad to make progress on another nettlesome matter before the long recess.
“No nation whose military is committing war crimes deserves free trade status with the United States,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). “No vile thug like Putin deserves to stand as an equal with the leaders of the free world. He is a menace and a pariah, who has ensured that his place in history will be one of everlasting shame.”