CNN
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A bipartisan Russia sanctions bill is gaining momentum in the Senate and could soon come to a vote as Republican lawmakers attempt to strike a careful balance with President Donald Trump.
Key supporters of the bill have expressed optimism that the package has the backing of the president, and Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that the Senate could take up the legislation before the August recess.
A bill with bipartisan support and more than 80 cosponsors could move fast in the chamber, but a challenge for GOP leaders has been to not get ahead of the White House. GOP senators have taken steps not to appear to be jamming the president on the issue, especially as Trump’s views over Russia and Ukraine have at times appeared to change and evolve.
Thune said senators have been in close contact with the White House and their House colleagues as GOP leadership aims to vote on the bipartisan bill this month.
Asked if he’s been talking to Trump about when the bill will come to the Senate floor, Thune answered, “We are communicating with the White House. Our team’s been in touch with theirs on a regular basis.”
“We’ve got individual senators, members who are talking to the White House and to our colleagues in the House, and we’re sort of gaming out how that might ultimately be accomplished,” he continued.
Thune has indicated that he would not advance the legislation without Trump’s blessing. The president told reporters on Tuesday that he was “looking at” the bill, and remarked that the Senate will potentially pass it “totally at [his] option.”
Trump on Tuesday decried what he called “bullsh*t” being peddled by his Russian counterpart, venting anger toward President Vladimir Putin as his efforts to broker peace in Ukraine fall short.
The remark was the clearest indication yet of Trump’s frustrations at Moscow, which has shown no willingness to end its war in Ukraine as it enters a fourth summer.
On Wednesday, Thune called the sanctions bill, which would levy heavy tariffs on imports from countries that purchase Russian uranium, gas and oil, an “important message to send, especially now.”
Republicans have also emphasized that the legislation would give the president leverage. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, has touted the its inclusion of a measure giving Trump the ability to waive sanctions at a later date.
Graham said Wednesday, “My goal is to get to the president’s desk before the August break … there’s a waiver in the bill to give the president leverage. I talked to the president last week about it. He thinks the bill will be helpful. So we’ll get it to him.”
The South Carolina Republican told reporters on Tuesday Trump “told me it’s time to move. So we’re going to move” on the package.
“You can tell yesterday the president’s willing to change course, and this bill will give him significant leverage over China and India, who prop up Putin’s war machine. And only way we’re ever going to end this war is to have Putin’s customers put pressure on Putin, and my goal is to give President Trump a tool he doesn’t have today from the Congress with a presidential waiver,” Graham said on Wednesday.
Asked if he is supportive of the sanctions bill, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley said on Wednesday, “I’m going to talk to the president about that. I know that he, Lindsey, has said that the president is supportive it, wants to move on that. I’m scheduled to talk to the president about that shortly.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, argued that Trump’s waiver authority is “very limited and constrained” in the package.
“Very importantly, in this bill, there’s congressional oversight. We can override the president if we disagree with him, and so it’s not unbridled or unconstrained authority simply to waive the sanctions,” said Blumenthal.
“Nobody here should presume that there will be a waiver of these sanctions. They are scorching. They are bone crushing. Vladimir Putin should get the word if he wants to come to the table, now is the time. Otherwise, his economy is going to be hit hard, because India and China will have every incentive to shop elsewhere for their oil and gas,” he added.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
