Senate hurdles slow bill to limit trade with Russia

Senators are struggling to reach an agreement that could let them quickly end normal trade relations with Russia. 

The House passed legislation in a sweeping 424-8 vote last week to cut off permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia and Belarus in the latest escalation of the country’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that is in its fourth week. 

Despite the overwhelming vote — a rarity in an increasingly polarized House — Senate leaders haven’t yet figured out a path forward and are facing sticking points that could slow down or block its journey to President Biden’s desk. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing to pass legislation this week. 

“This should pass quickly. Republicans in the past have complained we don’t do things quickly enough. … We should pass this with a strong bipartisan vote this week while the president is at NATO,” he said. 

Biden is traveling to Europe on Wednesday for meetings on the Russian war in Ukraine.

The bill passed by the House raises tariffs on goods from Russia and Belarus and sets up strict guidelines for when the president can restore normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus based on the state of the war. The Biden administration will additionally be obligated to push for Russia’s removal from the World Trade Organization. 

The House bill also reauthorizes and expands the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which sparked some grumbling on the House side of the Capitol. 

The House bill comes after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said earlier this month that they had reached an agreement on a path forward for legislation that would ban the import of Russian oil, end normal trade relations with Russia and apply new sanctions. 

In the end the House separated the two issues, passing one bill that bans the import of oil and the separate bill ending PNTR for Russia and Belarus. 

But key Senate Republicans want to relink the two issues. That would require either changing the House bill, offering a Senate alternative or striking an agreement to move the two pieces of legislation in tandem. 

Asked if he could support the House trade bill as is, Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho), the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said “not if it doesn’t include the … oil and gas ban.” 

“It needs to be amended,” Crapo said. 

There’s broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for ending normal trade relations with Russia, which would hand the Biden administration another win after Congress also recently passed a sweeping funding bill that included new aid related to Ukraine. 

Lawmakers are eager to show that they are being tough on Russia, with the invasion eating up much of the political oxygen on Capitol Hill. Senators are expected to get another closed-door briefing from administration officials on Russia and Ukraine next week, an aide told The Hill. 

But Senate Republicans want to codify the oil ban in part to give Congress more of a say on how it might ultimately get lifted. The Senate hasn’t taken up the stand-alone bill passed by the House on the import ban. 

“I just think that there’s a concern that the administration might decide to change their minds on that,” Thune said, asked why Senate Republicans want to pass the oil ban. 

Crapo and Wyden are in talks with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who spearheaded oil ban legislation with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), to try to come up with a quick agreement. But Manchin has also questioned the need for legislation codifying the Russian oil ban in the wake of the administration’s actions.

Thune noted that there’s broad bipartisan support for ending normal trade relations with Russia. And while he acknowledged that the House bill could get bipartisan support, he said senators are interested in offering their own bill. 

“I think there’s clearly … a bipartisan desire to do all of those things, the preference obviously over here for the Senate version,” Thune said. 

Making changes to the House bill, or swapping the Senate’s language into the House legislation, would slow its trip to Biden’s desk by forcing the House to pass the legislation for a second time. The House is out of town until Monday — days after Biden’s trip.

Wyden said that he wanted to pass the House legislation as it is currently written, questioning why they would overcomplicate the bill’s path forward. “I want to pass what the House passed. … Why make it complicated? Let’s do it this week,” Wyden said. 

Under the Senate’s rules, any one senator could slow down quick passage of a bill ending normal trade relations with Russia. That could push Senate action on the bill into at least next week.  

“I think there’s a preferred way to do this,” Thune said, “and the fast way to do it.”