Not clear when House will vote on Russia bill: trade panel head

Trade subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) told The Hill that it is “not clear” if the vote to grant permanent normal trade status to Russia will happen next week on the House floor. 

Russia is set to join the World Trade Organization in August. If Congress does not act, U.S. exports will be at a disadvantage compared to those of other WTO members once Russia joins.

Brady said that Democrats have not yet delivered their whip count on the bill.

“The White House is more involved, but we still have not seen that,” he said.

Brady said that the Senate has also not given any indication that it can make time next week, the last before the August recess begins.

The House Rules Committee is expected to combine the Russia trade bill with human-rights legislation named after Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, who died in pre-trial detention under suspicious circumstances.

Brady said he expects the final bill to include the Senate version of the Magnitsky bill, which has a wider application to human-rights abuses beyond Russia.

“That is my intuition,” he said.