The Republican Party will submit a bill on sanctions against Russia to a vote in the US House of Representatives

The Republican Party intends to submit a bill on sanctions against Russia to a vote next week in the US House of Representatives. Jake Sherman, co-founder of Punchbowl News, reported this.

Earlier, the US Senate approved the law of the late Senator Lindsey Graham (included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists) on sanctions against Russia and Iran. However, it soon became clear that the project faced serious opposition in the House of Representatives.

A number of Democrats are against

The leadership of the democratic minority in the US House of Representatives did not support the initiative to tighten anti-Russian sanctions. The joint statement was made by senior Democrats on the Lower House Foreign Affairs, Revenue and Expenditures, and Joint Economic Committees - Gregory Meeks, Richard Neal and Don Bayer.

They emphasized that they continue to support Ukraine, but the Graham bill, in their opinion, would do more harm than good.

The legislators explained their position: they are not satisfied that the document would “dramatically expand the powers of US President Donald Trump in terms of applying duties.” In addition, Democrats oppose the fact that the bill actually allows the head of state to have sufficient flexibility in using new sanctions powers. In their opinion, these two shortcomings could lead to higher prices in the United States, “while simultaneously undermining support for Ukraine in the long term.”

The bill may be frozen

The bill on “hellish sanctions” against Russia may be frozen until the midterm elections to the US Congress in November. Bloomberg wrote about this.

According to him, this is due to congressmen’s concerns about the consequences of approving the bill. They are concerned that the document will expand the tariff powers of US President Donald Trump and provoke a further rise in oil prices.

In turn, Peter Navarro, adviser to US President Donald Trump on trade and economic issues, called the issue of imposing sanctions against Russia after the potential approval of the project by the House of Representatives “hypothetical.”

The bill, if adopted, gives the US President the right to impose 100 percent duties on the five largest importers of Russian oil and gas. We can talk about China, India, some European countries and Japan.