New U.S. Russia Sanctions Push Slows in Congress Before Recess

Republicans who control the U.S. Congress are hesitating to advance tough new Russia sanctions legislation as fears of damage to American companies slow efforts to quickly send Moscow a message against meddling in the next U.S. election. Unlike a year ago, when Congress worked with lightning speed on a sanctions law targeting Russia, North Korea and Iran, some lawmakers said on Tuesday the Senate and House of Representatives were carefully weighing their response to growing fears that Moscow is plotting to interfere in November’s congressional elections. Republicans and Democrats were united in their repudiation last week of President Donald Trump’s failure to publicly condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, despite findings by U.S. intelligence. Russia has denied such meddling occurred. With a five-week summer recess set to begin in the House on Friday and the Senate taking an early August week-long recess, backers of legislation to impose harsh new sanctions on Russia feared the effort could be losing steam. A bipartisan group of senators, led by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, is pushing forward a legislation providing for the imposition of new sanctions on Russia if Moscow interferes in any future American election. It had the backing of several senior lawmakers, although it was unclear how quickly it could move through committees. At the same time leading congressional Republicans and U.S. energy firms concerned about losing business with Russia have been seeking to put on the brakes. Congressional sources said last week that U.S oil and gas firms were lobbying against the tighter sanctions that could affect their investments in Russia. “We don’t want to rush in with our hair on fire,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told reporters on Tuesday, adding that a new sanctions bill had to be done “in a thoughtful way.” Source:  Reuters