Hello 'Pussy' it's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking:
The Senate on Thursday approved sweeping sanctions against Russia, forcing you to decide whether to accept a tougher line against Moscow or issue a politically explosive veto amid investigations into ties between your presidential campaign and Russian officials.
Should I remain in bed, leave my country or fight against the dragon?
( see also the story by Wolfgang Hampel,
' Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say ' )
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Politics
With New Sanctions, Senate Forces Trump’s Hand on Russia
The
Senate on Thursday approved sweeping sanctions against Russia, forcing
President Trump to decide whether to accept a tougher line against
Moscow or issue a politically explosive veto amid investigations into
ties between his presidential campaign and Russian officials.
The Senate vote, 98 to 2, followed the passage of a House bill
this week to punish Russia, Iran and North Korea for various violations
by each of the three American adversaries. In effect, the measure would
sharply limit Mr. Trump’s ability to suspend or lift sanctions on
Russia — handcuffing a sitting president just six months into his term
with the nearly unanimous support of a Republican-led Congress.
The
Trump administration has opposed the sanctions against Russia, arguing
that it needs flexibility to pursue a more collaborative diplomacy with a
country that, by American intelligence consensus, interfered in last
year’s presidential election. But now the president faces a decision he
had hoped to avoid, even though the administration supports sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
White
House aides have acknowledged privately that a veto would be
politically awkward, at best, for Mr. Trump to justify during the
continuing investigations into whether his campaign colluded with
Russia.
Last
week, after House and Senate leaders announced an agreement on
sanctions, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the incoming White House press
secretary, suggested that Mr. Trump would sign the final package. Since
then, though, the administration has hedged, saying that Mr. Trump will
have to review whatever plan reaches his desk.
“The
administration supports sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.
We continue to support strong sanctions against those three countries,”
Ms. Sanders said on Thursday. “And we’re going to wait and see what
that final legislation looks like, and make a decision at that point.”
The
sanctions target suppliers of weapons to the Assad regime in Syria and
those undermining cybersecurity, among others. The Senate last month
passed a similar bill, 98 to 2, that punished only Russia and Iran.
But
the effort had languished for weeks amid technical holdups in the
House, compelling Democrats to accuse Republicans of stalling on the
president’s behalf. As the legislation sat, the administration lobbied
against it, finding common cause with oil and gas companies, defense
contractors and other financial players who argued that some of the
sanctions provisions could harm their profits.
The
House version included a handful of changes from the initial Senate
bill, some made in response to concerns raised by American energy
companies. Those tweaks, combined with the addition of sanctions against
North Korea that were drafted by the House, helped end the impasse.
On Tuesday, the House approved the measure, 419 to 3.
Now, as ever, attention turns to the president.
Senator
Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, said he “cannot imagine” Mr. Trump rejecting
legislation with such veto-proof majorities in Congress.
“If
I were giving advice to the president, which I’m not on this issue,” he
began before offering some, “it’s just not a good way to start a
presidency to veto something and then be soundly overridden.”
For
years, a hawkish approach to Russia has been central to Republican
foreign policy doctrine. But conservative lawmakers have found
themselves at odds with their own president amid Mr. Trump’s stated
desire to find common ground with Russia, against the background of
Russia-tinged scandals that have consumed his administration.
Senator
John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who has long advocated an
aggressive stance toward Russia, cheered colleagues for summoning
bipartisanship “to respond to Russia’s attack on American democracy.”
“We
will not tolerate attacks on our democracy. That’s what this bill is
all about,” Mr. McCain said. “We must take our own side in this fight,
not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans.”
Democrats
took more explicit aim at Mr. Trump, suggesting that the legislation
reflected a dim view of his credibility on Russia.
“This
bill will prevent President Trump from relaxing sanctions on Russia
without congressional review,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of
Ohio, who urged Mr. Trump to sign the legislation as quickly as
possible. “We’re all concerned about that.”
Senator
Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, called on Republican leaders
in Congress to publicly commit to overriding any veto, in the hopes of
deterring Mr. Trump before he tries. And Senator Chuck Schumer of New
York, the minority leader, said that “it won’t matter what President
Trump decides” given Congress’s overwhelming support for the sanctions.
The Kremlin’s perspective on the matter is clear.
Several
days ago, as details of the final sanctions agreement came into focus,
Dmitri S. Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, was asked
by the government-run news agency RIA to characterize Moscow’s view.
“Highly negative,” he said.
