16 July, 2017
The legislation sailed through the Senate almost a month ago in response to Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and its belligerence toward Ukraine.
"House Democrats are not going to let the Republicans off the hook for their complicity in this", Pelosi said.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, speaks at a July 14, 2017 news conference about Democratic efforts to force Republicans to vote on releasing President Donald Trump's tax returns.
She pointed to Obama's infamous remark during a 2012 presidential debate when he mocked Mitt Romney's concern about Russian Federation as "1980s" foreign policy.
The provisions would require a congressional review if Trump seeks to ease or end the sanctions against Moscow.
Nonetheless, Pelosi seems convinced that Trump's inner circle crossed a legal line in meeting with a Russian government lawyer they believed would provide opposition research on Hillary Clinton - a meeting Pelosi said is "cold, hard evidence" that the Trump campaign "eagerly meant to collude with Russia", and pulls matters into "new territory". It has been a subject of "robust discussion", according to three people with knowledge of the talks who were cited by The Post. The top Democrat on the committee, California Sen.
Corker told reporters Monday that it's not unusual for a White House to resist oversight of foreign policy.
A Russian sanctions bill has stalled in Congress amid partisan finger-pointing, leaving lawmakers anxious the inaction could limit their legislative check on the Trump administration.
"The GOP must immediately join us in a call for the release of all communications within the Trump campaign and within the family by email, text, Twitter, or any other direct message", Pelosi said. "That has never occurred".
The new Russian identity is a combination of religion, old Russian traditions and rediscovered patriotism.
On that, Sarah Huckabee Sanders quickly issued the ready-made statement from President Trump: "My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency".
"The reason why Putin and Russian Federation have any strength whatsoever is because Democrats completely ignored his expansion into the Baltic states and everything globally for the past eight years", McCain said.
Still, Russia sanctions have broad bipartisan agreement among lawmakers in both houses of Congress, and would likely pass with enough support to override a potential veto from the White House. Even as recently as just before his meeting this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G7 gathering in Germany, Trump was still insisting he didn't know if it was Russia or somebody else who had hacked and leaked the Democrats' emails.
The president says it's important for Republicans under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass the legislation and "come through as they have promised".
"While the new bill is identical to what the Senate passed [last month], it will be labeled as House legislation to avoid a procedural issue that prompted House Republican leaders to send the measure back to the Senate", reads the report.
While Congress was on its weeklong July 4 recess, a new wrinkle developed that could make approval of the legislation more hard. Energy companies are also raising concerns about several provisions. "There are some policy issues with respect to making sure that we don't actually inadvertently help Russian oligarchs and oil firms".
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, has declined to endorse the sanctions legislation.
The second bill, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, would make good on Trump's promise to punish sanctuary cities by blocking federal funding to them. He expressed disappointment in the Senate's ability to get a bill passed after talking about repealing Obamacare for years. But progress on the measure slowed nearly immediately. "It would be considered as a House bill, which would in and of itself cure the serious issue of the "blue slip" constitutional requirement", Hoyer said.