Lawmakers reached an agreement Wednesday for the Senate to vote on a sweeping sanctions bill that was overwhelmingly approved by the House this week, in a push to promptly get the legislation to the president’s desk.
The bill targeting Russia, Iran, and North Korea faced a series of procedural and partisan disputes before breezing through the lower chamber 419-3 on Tuesday.
“The Senate will move to approve the Iran and Russia sanctions it originally passed six weeks ago, as well as the North Korea sanctions developed by the House,” Senate Foreign Relations chairman Bob Corker said in a statement late Wednesday.
The Senate-approved base of the bill, which passed weeks ago 98-2, hits Russia over 2016 election interference and its military actions in Ukraine and Syria (among other activities), and punishes Iran for its ballistic missile program and human rights abuses.
House Republicans pushed last week to add North Korea sanctions to the Russia and Iran-focused legislation. The lower chamber overwhelmingly approved separate penalties on Pyongyang in May, 419-1.
Corker had urged the House not to add the North Korea portion, while House Democrats raised concerns that it could create further procedural delays.
The Tennessee senator suggested early Wednesday, after the House passed its three-country bill, that the upper chamber might strip the North Korea section from the legislation altogether. Reviewing and negotiating the associated language, he said, could take too much time and delay passage until after August recess.
House majority leader Kevin McCarthy and House Foreign Affairs chairman Ed Royce put up stiff opposition to removing the provisions. The two chambers came to a compromise hours later.
The Senate will vote on the full House bill, Corker said, and the House will also soon consider further Senate language on North Korea.
“Going forward, the House has committed to expeditiously consider and pass enhancements to the North Korea language, which multiple members of the Senate hope to make in the very near future,” his statement read.
The Tennessee senator suggested adding a congressional review provision to the North Korea section earlier Wednesday, which would require the president to obtain congressional approval before modifying sanctions.
The Russia portion of the bill features a congressional review clause, which the White House has taken issue with. Still, some Trump administration officials have praised the revised legislation.
The president has not said where he stands one way or the other. Lawmakers are likely to have a veto-proof majority in any case.
