Well, well, well, look what we have here ...
The White House is quietly lobbying House Republicans to weaken a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate last week that would slap tough new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election and allow Congress to block any future move by President Trump to lift any penalties against Moscow.
The effort is designed to head off an awkward and politically damaging veto fight between the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress on Russia at a time when Mr. Trump is laboring under the shadow of multiple investigations about his campaign’s potential collusion with Moscow.
House Republicans, normally hawkish on Russia, face a choice between demonstrating a hard line against Moscow in the face of its misconduct and sparing their own president a potentially embarrassing confrontation.
The reporting from the New York Times notes that GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, has already initiated a procedural move that could result in the measure being rewritten.
On Tuesday, Sean Spicer dodged an inquiry about the White House's official position on the legislation. But anonymously speaking, White House officials peddled the notion that they're concerned the measure "usurps the president’s authority to impose such penalties" and interferes with his ability to conduct international diplomacy.
The officials said the White House wanted lawmakers to eliminate a congressional review process that would allow the House and the Senate to block the president from lifting sanctions against Russia, or to add a waiver that would permit him to circumvent such an action.
Essentially, they’re arguing for total unfettered executive control of Russia sanctions, a case that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also made last week. It’s a lot like the Muslim ban, where government lawyers have repeatedly argued that Trump should have unchecked authority to do whatever he pleases. It’s kind of the White House mantra at this point.
It remains to be seen whether Rep. Brady’s procedural move is the stall tactic that Democrats are certain it is. Brady and Paul Ryan are taking the position that such a bill must originate in the House.
The Senate bill cannot be considered in the House in its current form, said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul D. Ryan. “The speaker has been a strong proponent of sanctions and believes we need to do more to hold Iran and Russia accountable,” she said. “We will determine the next course of action after speaking with our Senate colleagues.”
But if past is prologue, Ryan will simply cave to Trump—because he has on every single damn issue since Trump announced his candidacy for president. Trump is supposed to meet with his bestie Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in two weeks and he definitely doesn’t want to disappoint Puti.