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White House plans to push House GOP for friendlier Russia sanctions deal

Tovarisc

Member
Senate Democrats fear that the White House will defang the bill designed to punish Russia for election meddling.
The White House plans to work with House Republicans on administration-friendly changes to the Senate’s overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that slaps new sanctions on Russia and curbs President Donald Trump’s power to ease penalties against Moscow, according to a senior administration official.

The White House is concerned that the legislation would tie its hands on U.S.-Russia relations, a sentiment publicly expressed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. But Senate Democrats fear the White House may go overboard in preserving its power to talk to Russia and seek to defang the sanctions bill — which passed 98-2 on Thursday in one of the year’s most significant displays of bipartisanship.

“I’m concerned about it, but I don’t really have the ability to dictate what the White House says to the House,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in an interview. “I can’t imagine the House would want to be apologists for Russian behavior after the combined weight of the intelligence communities all weighing in saying, ‘Look, they attacked the United States’.”

The administration official emphasized that the White House supports sanctions on Russia and that the political ramifications of any veto have not been discussed yet. As the State Department actively engages with lawmakers, the White House is confident it has allies in the House who are also concerned about the prospect of breaking with precedent and limiting the executive branch’s control over sanctions.
But Senate Democrats fret that the frenetic news cycle may make it easier for Trump — who has repeatedly offered praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin and is mired in an FBI probe into possible collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin — to undercut a sanctions deal designed to punish Moscow for meddling in last year’s election.

“I’m afraid that the level of awareness isn’t where it should be,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview. “And we’re going to come back and ask ‘How could this accommodation to Russia have happened?’ if this bill is watered down.”

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who helped negotiate the sanctions package as the Banking Committee’s top Democrat, told POLITICO he has heard the Trump administration is reaching out to House members “to slow it, block it.”

“This is not something the administration is calling for us to do,” Brown said. “I applaud the courage of a number of my Republican colleagues who said no to the administration and did the right thing for the country to keep a foreign power out of our elections.”
However, Tillerson earlier this week signaled his displeasure with any sanctions bill that would force the U.S. to “close the channels off” with Russia. While the White House has not taken an official position on the bill, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday tried to project toughness on Russia while appearing to express concerns about the Senate legislation.
Asked if he feared that Trump's team could secure its preferred Russia changes with little public scrutiny, Durbin said only: "Yes."
Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/17/trump-white-house-russia-sanctions-deal-239636
 

jelly

Member
Rex's job is basically the sanctions getting lifted. It's amusing to watch. I'm surprised nobody is giving him heat for it.
 
The WH also throw many of it's AHCA house votes under the bus by talking shit on the bill and asking for change after his lawn party.

Hey, maybe they'll be extra nice and put their junk on the butcher's block for you again shithead.
 
Going to be a signal to how likely getting Mueller back as IC if he fires him, too. If House Republicans roll over for this, they'll roll over for that as well.
 

Kilau

Member
I love how the headline says one thing, the summary says something else and the body is just "heard" and assumptions.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
I love how the headline says one thing, the summary says something else and the body is just "heard" and assumptions.

The White House plans to work with House Republicans on administration-friendly changes to the Senate’s overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that slaps new sanctions on Russia and curbs President Donald Trump’s power to ease penalties against Moscow, according to a senior administration official.

?
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Do they just not care about optics

It's a guy who did shit that would've sank anyone else, of course they don't care about it. They know they're immune to this crap.
 

Pomerlaw

Member
Is cutting communication channels with Russia a good idea though? I don't think it is.

Sanctions should be maintained but always leave place for diplomacy.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Is cutting communication channels with Russia a good idea though? I don't think it is.

Sanctions should be maintained but always leave place for diplomacy.

You're being snookered by spin.

To Tillerson, not being able to offer lessened sanctions is "closing the channels."
 

Quixzlizx

Member
I don't see anything in the article that confirms that as fact the way the headline states it.

I'm not saying it isn't happening or won't happen, just more that I'm tired of the constant stream of click bait headlines.

But the quote I pasted is pretty much a restating of the headline?

Unless you're saying that since it was an unnamed administration source, it's fake news?
 

CoolOff

Member
But why, if it costs so much political capital...

giphy.gif
 
So transparent. Constant attempts to make these sanctions with Russia disappear from like day 1. Meanwhile, from both Comey's and Session's testimony before the Senate we know that neither Trump or Sessions have any interest whatsoever in keeping our elections safe from the Russians and what can be done to better protect ourselves/get them to knock it off and be sure they won't be able to do anything when they come back next time (and they will keep trying, no doubt--there's no way they'll just give up after putting so much energy into 2016, especially with a completely manipulable idiot like Trump in charge that will just turn a blind eye to whatever they're up to) as Sessions himself admitted he's had no conversations whatsoever with the FBI or any other intelligence agencies about the subject and the same goes for Trump. And we also know that this isn't normal at all since Comey also admitted under oath that he had multiple conversations with Obama about the subject, but not a one with Trump--just absolutely no interest from him in making sure our democracy is safeguarded to the absolute best of our ability and making sure that the situation is held to absolutely no lower standard than that.

It's disturbing just how deep into this nonsense this administration is and I can only hope that like the Senate the House is able to at least find it's spine on an issue like this and not completely roll over for Trump, but sadly I don't have much faith in that. Unlike the Senate Committee, the House version has been pretty much useless and I expect this to go the same way. I'd like to be wrong, but I have severe doubts based on the differing behavior of the House and Senate. =/
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
God these guys are so stupid. I mean, even if you WANTED to legit help Russia out, you don't do it like this. Why on Earth would you, in the middle of all of this, let this kind of story leak?

I'm not even offended by his policies anymore. I'm offended by how stupid he's telling people that the American government is. And not "stupid" as in "stuff I disagree with," but "stupid" as in, "A child without a fully formed brain would try to do this."
 

Quixzlizx

Member
I'm saying exactly what I said.

Then I'm afraid you're incorrect about nothing in the body matching the substance of the headline, since it was the first sentence of the body which I subsequently spoonfed to you.

God these guys are so stupid. I mean, even if you WANTED to legit help Russia out, you don't do it like this. Why on Earth would you, in the middle of all of this, let this kind of story leak?

I'm not even offended by his policies anymore. I'm offended by how stupid he's telling people that the American government is. And not "stupid" as in "stuff I disagree with," but "stupid" as in, "A child without a fully formed brain would try to do this."

He's not saying the American government is stupid, he's saying he thinks the American people are so stupid they'll let him get away with it regardless of how blatant he's being.
 

Kilau

Member
Then I'm afraid you're incorrect about nothing in the body matching the substance of the headline, since it was the first sentence of the body which I subsequently spoonfed to you.

Well I guess you are right, when I read something attributed to an unnamed source my eyes just glaze over.
 
I think the Georgia Special Election is going to play a big part in it. If Dems end up winning the seat, I could see House Republicans upholding the Senate bill. However if they hold on to the Georgia seat, they will probably bend to Trump's will on this.

But man, I would love for the House to preserve the Senate bill and see if Trump actually tries to veto it. That would really give us some insight if lifting sanctions were possibly involved in a deal involving Russian collusion (if there was collusion). It also might tell us if Trump is still actively being handled by the Russians with how persistent he tries to kill this bill. Remember in one of the Congressional hearings, one of the intelligence officials said the Russians are still engaged in their active measures and influence campaign.
 
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