14 July, 2017
"I think as soon as tomorrow, the House (of Representatives) could pass it out", Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an author of the bill, told reporters.
Democrats are set to introduce a bill that duplicates the text of a measure that passed with a bipartisan 98-2 vote in the Senate, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said Wednesday.
Democratic lawmakers haven't shared the text of their bill with Republican leadership, according to AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan.
The administration officials, who were career civil servants, expressed concerns during the meeting about the congressional review provisions in the bill, which would give Congress veto power if the White House tries to loosen sanctions on Russian Federation, according to the staffers.
"I think it's important that we get to the bottom of all of this", Ryan said, adding that he supports special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russian Federation, as well as the parallel investigations being conducted by the House and Senate intelligence committees.
The delay has frustrated Democrats, and some of Trump's fellow Republicans, who think the president is so eager to improve relations with Russian Federation that he will not retaliate for Moscow's worldwide aggression.
On June 9, 2016, after being told a Russian lawyer had incriminating information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. - along with Donald Trump Sr.'s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort - met at Trump Tower in NY with the attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
"It's identical to the Senate-passed bill", a Democratic committee aide said.
House Republican leaders said they had not taken up the original Senate bill because it violated a constitutional requirement that all legislation affecting government revenues originate in the House, known as a "blue slip" issue.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have said they will present a new version of a Russian Federation and Iran sanctions bill later today.
"I don't believe that having the president's party in a position to protect him from any oversight is good policy for our country", Hoyer told reporters.
The Netanyahu regime has praised the Trump administration for taking its pointedly-antagonistic stance against Iran to a new level and imposing sanctions against Tehran over its defensive missile program.
Ryan did say it was "absolutely unacceptable" that Russian Federation would meddle in USA elections, but he stopped short of any sort of direct criticism of Trump's campaign.
