Washington, DC. New sanctions on Russia will have to wait, as Congress has found the US Senate acted too quickly, kicking out a bill that is not quite legally correct by American standards. So for the momment, more sanctions are not the last word in American law. Meanwhile one Ukrainian owned congressman-Eliot Engel, squeals like a pig over any delay in destroying US-Russian relations further.
The Legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran that passed the US Senate nearly unanimously last week has run into a procedural problem that could prevent a quick vote in the House of Representatives, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes new sanctions against Russia, passed the Senate 98-2 last week, an overwhelming vote that looked like it might complicate President Donald Trump’s desire for warmer relations with Moscow.
But the measure must still pass the House before it can be sent to Trump to sign into law, or veto, and the House parliamentarian found that the legislation violated a constitutional requirement that any bill that raises revenue for the government must originate in the House, something known as a “blue slip” violation.
“The final bill, and final language, violated the origination clause in the Constitution,” Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters.
Democrats suggested that Republicans were stalling the bill out of loyalty to Trump, whose administration has criticized the sanctions package as potentially too restrictive. In the past, Democrats said, House leaders had overcome such objections without discussion by quickly voting on identical versions of Senate legislation.
“This is nothing but a delay tactic and the public shouldn’t be fooled by complex-sounding parliamentary procedure,” said Representative Eliot Engel, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Engel is also on the Ukrainian congressional caucus, which has heavily contributed to Engel to keep his full attention on Russia having problems, while Ukraine continues to recieve billions in US tax dollars, instead of Engel’s voters, of course.