Both Senate and House Democrats are poised to stop the Trump administration from lifting sanctions on Oleg Deripaska's companies, a move Treasury announced last month. By law, Congress has 30 days to block the move before it automatically goes into effect.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), a member of the House intelligence committee, told The Daily Beast he has been discussing the matter with other members. And he’s eager for Trump administration officials to answer lawmakers’ questions about their move.
“I think senior Treasury people should come to the Hill and explain this deal,” he said, referring to the agreement between the U.S. and Deripaska that allowed the sanctions to be lifted.
“We need to get more information fast,” he added, “and of course the leverage that we have is a resolution of disapproval.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) submitted an outline of that resolution of disapproval Friday. He says he hasn't made up his mind yet, but he and his colleagues need answers.
“I do so not because I have concluded that Congress should act to disapprove this agreement—I have not made that determination yet—but to preserve the procedural option of moving to bring up such a resolution at the end of the review process, if necessary, for expedited review and a vote by the full Senate,” Schumer said in a statement.
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If Schumer decides to file a resolution of disapproval, such an effort would not be a small feat. It would need simple majorities in both the House and Senate in order to get to the president’s desk. Trump would almost certainly veto the measure, so lawmakers would need to muster enough votes to override a presidential veto.
If successful, the resolution would stop the Treasury Department from lifting sanctions on the Deripaska-controlled companies EN+, Rusal, and EuroSibEnergo. It would do so via a mechanism in the Russia sanctions package approved in 2017, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Passed overwhelmingly by Congress over President Donald Trump’s objections, CAATSA allows the House and Senate to block White House efforts to alter sanctions by passing a joint resolution of disapproval within 30 days of the administration’s announcement.
The deal Treasury made with Deripaska seems to be a giveaway to the oligarch connected both to Vladimir Putin and Paul Manafort.
... As Treasury demanded, Deripaska’s stake in En+ will go from 70 percent to just under 50 percent. He will still have major sway over the company. And he will transfer some of his EN+ shares to VTB Bank to pay down debt to the bank, as Bloomberg detailed. VTB is also under U.S. sanctions.
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[Sen. Bob] Menendez (D-NJ) had said the sanctions should not be lifted “unless and until Mr. Deripaska divests from and relinquishes control of both [Rusal and EN+].” Himes said he wants more information from the Treasury Department about the terms of the agreement.
“I think it’s important for us to dissect the specifics of a post-transaction EN+ and Rusal because one concern I have is that Mr. Deripaska will retain effective control with the transaction as outlined by Treasury,” Himes said.
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“Given that Congress overwhelmingly pushed for these sanctions in a bipartisan fashion and provided the Treasury Department with the statutory authorities in play here and particularly because Russia continues its aggressive covert and overt influence campaign against the United States, close and continuing oversight is wholly appropriate and, indeed, is critical,” said [Jamil Jaffer, who previously served as chief counsel and senior adviser to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he helped write two sanctions laws targeting Russia].
Dems Move to Block Trump From Lifting Sanctions on Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska (Daily Beast)