A bipartisan group of senators is challenging President Trump’s authority to reset the U.S. relationship with Russia, by trying to assert control over sanctions policy against that country.
The six senators, which include three Republicans, have offered a bill that would give Congress a chance to disapprove of a potential Trump decision to lift the sanctions imposed by then-President Barack Obama after Russia annexed Crimea and backed violence against Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country. Obama imposed those sanctions because the United States promised to defend Ukrainian sovereignty in 1994, in exchange for the former Soviet satellite state agreeing to surrender a massive nuclear weapons arsenal.
“Russia has done nothing to be rewarded with sanctions relief,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the lead sponsor of the legislation. “To provide relief at this time would send the wrong signal to Russia and our allies who face Russian oppression. Sanctions relief must be earned, not given.”
The politics of the legislation could be tricky for both Trump and the senators. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson argued during his confirmation hearing that Trump should have the traditional presidential authority to waive sanctions unilaterally if he deems it necessary for U.S. national security. That frustrated Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who co-sponsored the Russia Sanctions Review Act.
“The United States should not ease sanctions on Russia until Putin abandons his illegal annexation of Crimea, verifiably and permanently ends Russian aggression in Ukraine, and fully implements the Minsk accords,” Rubio said Wednesday.
That position is consistent with the Trump team’s current statements. “We do want to better our relations with Russia; however, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said last week in her first address to the UN Security Council. “Eastern Ukraine, of course, is not the only part of the country suffering because of Russia’s aggressive actions. Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine.”
But Trump has talked of using the sanctions as a bargaining chip in other talks, and some of his allies favor a prompt reversal. “I would hope that our president removes those sanctions and tells President Putin that we’re going to start all over again,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who was a candidate for a presidential appointment in the State Department, told the Washington Examiner in January.
If the Trump opposes the sanctions review bill, he risks undermining Haley’s credibility and American allies’ confidence that he means what he says.
“Easing sanctions on Russia would send the wrong message as Vladimir Putin continues to oppress his citizens, murder his political opponents, invade his neighbors, threaten America’s allies, and attempt to undermine our elections,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said in his statement. “Congress must have oversight of any decision that would impact our ability to hold Russia accountable for its flagrant violation of international law and attack our institutions.”
A Trump veto threat would spread the discomfort to the congressional Republicans. Rubio, Graham, and McCain would need 16 other GOP senators and every other Democrat to override the veto in the Senate. But that might put them crosswise with Republican voters, who warmed to Putin as Clinton and Democrats accused him of trying to help Trump win the White House.
“We would lose all credibility in the eyes of our allies in Europe and around the world,” said Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of three Democrats to cosponsor the sanctions review bill. “Since the illegal annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2014, Congress has led efforts to impose sanctions on Russia. We have a responsibility to exercise stringent oversight over any policy move that could ease Russia sanctions.”
