Six weeks ago, an array of sanctions against Russia, to be added to penalties being debated on Iran, won near-unanimous bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, with Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Rand Paul (R-Ky) the only dissenting voices. The package became stalled in the House of Representatives because the Trump administration asked for more flexibility in its relationship with Russia.
The stall ended last Thursday evening when the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that might well serve to alienate U.S. allies and isolate the United States. Senators voted 98-2 to apply new sanctions to Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Sanders and Paul were again the only dissenters. The bill passed in the House 419-3 and included a provision that permits Congress to block any effort by President Trump to ease existing sanctions on Russia.
Sanctions bills against U.S. adversaries typically move through Congress uncontested and on a bipartisan basis.
The bill understandably has the enthusiastic backing of Democrats, who feel that Vladimir Putin should be punished for his 2016 U.S. presidential election interference. Because several of the meetings between Trump administration members and Russian officials are thought to have discussed sanctions relief, coverage of the Trump-Russia brouhaha has overshadowed any discussions about how U.S. allies might respond to new sanctions.
It comes as no surprise that Putin’s response was to expel more than 700 American diplomats and staffers. The new sanctions were seen by many as follow-up to the Magnitsky Act of 2012, named after the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured to death after exposing a massive tax fraud by Moscow officials.
