US likely to shelve new Russia sanctions as clock runs out

Bloomberg

Congress isn’t expected to pass legislation ordering new US sanctions on Russia before the end of the year, as lawmakers focus instead on government spending measures, judicial nominations and a farm bill, key senators said.
A bipartisan group of senators moved swiftly over the summer to assemble new proposals for Russia sanctions following President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. But as Congress enters the so-called lame duck period before newly elected lawmakers take office in January, time is running short for action on the bills.
“We don’t have very much time,” John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, told reporters. “It’s going to be a real race, unless everyone wants to stay here for Christmas.”
Lawmakers were considering new sanctions legislation a little more than a year after the Republican-controlled Congress passed an aggressive measure that forced the Treasury Department to target wealthy people close to Putin — so-called oligarchs. Trump, who has sought a warmer relationship with Putin, grudgingly signed it into law rather than face a possible override of his veto.
Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who has been involved in talks on the sanctions legislation, also said Congress appeared to have no time left to pursue legislation this year.
“The clock is running out on us,” he said, adding: “We don’t have an administration that’s actually embracing it.”
Moscow may have bought itself at least a brief reprieve from additional sanctions after midterm congressional elections that so far show no sign of the sort of interference that plagued the 2016 vote that Trump won.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, who would be key to advancing any legislation, said that passing a bill he’s sponsored called the Deter Act “would be sort of missing the mark” after a US vote that appears to have been unmarred by Russian meddling.
Corker’s comments indicate that if punitive measures are eventually required, the Senate may go back to the drawing board to decide what options best fit the current climate with Russia.
But any new interference by the Kremlin might still trigger Congress to act, said John Smith, who in May left as director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which implements sanctions programs. Trump is expected to meet again with Putin at the G-20 summit in Argentina at the end of this month.
“Both Republicans and Democrats have largely believed that the Trump administration has not done enough to sanction Russia for its election interference in 2016,” Smith said in an interview.