US Senate votes near unanimously for Russia, Iran sanctions

Senators voted 97-2 to attach the deal to an Iran sanctions bill now being debated on the Senate floor. Trump expected to tighten Cuba rules OPINION: Sorry Newt, the right must tone down the vitriol too MORE (I-Vt.) opposed it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And what is the White House saying about all this?

Flynn had been misleading about his phone conversations late last December that reportedly included talks with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, just as then-president Barack Obama was ordering new sanctions on Russia over its alleged election meddling. New sanctions could wipe that out.

The US president will also have to impose sanctions on those providing significant financial, material or technological support to the Syrian government.

The sanctions follow the scandalous departure of Michael Flynn as Trump s national security advisor. (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said ahead of the vote.

The only two senators to vote against the bill Thursday were Vermont Sen.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told CNN that “we moved to make the Congress, not the President, the final arbiter of sanctions relief when necessary”.

In addition to new sanctions, the bill would prevent President Trump from lifting sanctions on Russian Federation without congressional approval.

Germany on Friday accused Washington of hurting European power companies through the new sanctions against Russian Federation that target the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe. Bernie Sanders. Sanders says he’s anxious the legislation, which also includes sanctions against Iran, could hurt the Iranian nuclear deal.

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today voted to expand sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic missile program, systematic human rights abuses, violations of arms embargoes, and state support for terrorism.

The bill has made Russian Federation hawks like John McCain, Lindsey Graham and pretty much everybody else in the Republican Party happier than they have been in a very long time. “It sends a very strong signal to Russia”, Corker said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference during his annual call-in-show in Moscow.

The new Senate sanctions on Russian Federation and Iran came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on lawmakers to grant “flexibility” to the White House in dealing with Russian Federation.

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said that the “bipartisan amendment is the sanctions regime that the Kremlin deserves for its actions”.

The penalties have been criticised by Austria and Germany for promoting USA economic interests.

The House of Representatives is now beginning to consider its own Iran and Russian Federation sanctions measure, with the potential for final legislation this fall.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are debating parallel legislation, though it is unclear whether it would be met with the same bipartisan support as it did in the Senate, which would be required in order to survive a potential veto.

“I was going to give them until the beginning of this next work period, which began a few weeks ago”, Corker told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The legislation passed 98-2.

But Cardin said he took Tillerson’s remarks as “non-committal”.

Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, said last month that the administration wouldn’t weaken Russian Federation sanctions, adding that, “If anything, we could probably look to get tougher”.