Bloomberg News
The U.S. Senate and House passed separate bills today imposing additional sanctions on Russian officials for the nation's annexation of Crimea.
The Senate bill, passed on a voice vote, includes about $1 billion in loan guarantees and authorizes $150 million in direct assistance to Ukraine.
The House legislation would impose additional asset freezes and visa bans on senior Russian officials and corporations. The bill passed 399-19.
'Today is an important day for Ukraine and for all nations who support international law, democracy and decency,' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, framing the act as a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
'This bill is a reality check to him that the United States will not sit idly by while Russia plays the role of schoolyard bully,' Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said. 'Russia's place in the world has transformed. It does not wield the global power that it once did.'
The House measure would codify sanctions already announced by President Barack Obama. It would encourage imposing more penalties on Russians with 'significant influence over the formation and implementation of Russian foreign policy' involving Crimea, according to the bill's text.
Residents of the Black Sea peninsula voted on March 16 to join the Russian Federation, and Putin completed the annexation last week.
The bill, H.R. 4278, includes additional economic assistance for Ukraine and would signal U.S. plans to increase natural gas exports. Republicans have said such a move eventually would reduce Russia's leverage over other European nations that depend on its gas exports.
'This sends one last message that if you're in the business of helping to invade a country there will be consequences,' said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a California Republican.
Ukraine Aid
The House on March 6 passed legislation, H.R. 4152, that would provide the roughly $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine without addressing sanctions.
The Senate measure would impose sanctions against Ukrainians and Russians deemed responsible for corruption and violence. Russian officials, as well as their close associates or family members, also could be subject to sanctions, which could include blocking access to assets held in the U.S. and prohibiting travel to the U.S.
'It's up to the Congress, it's up to us to act, to act decisively and to send a clear message,' said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican.
Yanukovych Targeted
The legislation would require the U.S. government to assist the Ukrainian government in the recovery of assets secured through acts of corruption by former president Viktor Yanukovych, his family and other government officials. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the measure on March 12 in a bipartisan 14-3 vote.
The Senate vote was scheduled two days after Reid acquiesced to Republican demands and dropped language that would have increased the U.S. share -- or quota -- for the International Monetary Fund and implemented a 2010 international agreement giving rising economies more clout at the global organization.
Republicans in the House and Senate objected to the IMF changes and said they would block them.
Reid emphasized that the measure the Senate would vote on today 'is just the beginning' of congressional efforts to rebuke Putin.
IMF 'Hostage'
The White House, meanwhile, criticized Republicans in Congress for holding the IMF changes 'hostage.'
'Supporting these reforms would have meant Ukraine could access additional assistance, and it's unfortunate that Republicans stood in the way,' White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said yesterday in Belgium during Obama's European tour.
Senate Democrats, who control 55 seats in the 100-member chamber, potentially had enough votes to preserve the IMF language, though doing so would have set up a showdown with the Republican-led House. The Senate voted 98-2 to strip the IMF language from its bill before approving the legislation.
'All it's going to do is slow the political process down,' House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters March 25.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net Mark McQuillan
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, March 27, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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