New sanctions on Russia and Iran hit House roadblock

WASHINGTON - A bill that passed the Senate last week extending financial sanctions on Russia and Iran and making it more difficult for President Donald Trump to ease Russian sanctions has encountered a major procedural snag, threatening its quick passage into law.

The sanctions bill, known as the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act, passed the Thursday last week on a 98-2 vote. But this week, House staff flagged the bill for violating the constitutional provision that only the House can originate bills raising revenue for the government - creating what is known on Capitol Hill as a 'blue slip” violation.

Fixing the issue might not be a simple matter, with unanimous consent required to expedite any Senate legislation and Republicans preparing to being complex health-care legislation to the Senate floor. Two House Republican aides and a Senate Republican aide confirmed the potential roadblock, which could stall momentum for the bill.

An aide to the House Ways and Means Committee said Tuesday that the bill has been 'held at the House desk” to review any 'constitutional issues.”

'We're working on those now with our leadership and the other committee of jurisdiction as quickly as we can,” the aide said.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the bill's sponsor and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday he had not been informed of the issue.

'You're sharing something with me I'm not aware of,” he said. 'We felt like we had adequately dealt with the blue-slip issue when we did it. I look forward to seeing what the complaint might be.”

While the bill was roundly popular in the Senate, it has faced stiff pushback from the Trump administration, which last week warned senators not to pass any legislation that might tie the executive's hands with Russia.

'We would ask for the flexibility to turn the heat up when we need to, but also to ensure that we have the ability to maintain a constructive dialogue,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week, on the day the Senate passed the bill stepping up sanctions and restraining the president from being able to roll existing sanctions back.

The Treasury Department said on Tuesday it had extended existing sanctions to new individuals and entities involved in the ongoing territorial conflict between Russia and Ukraine, including three Russian government officials. The announcement came on the same day that Trump met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the White House.

But senators fear that the White House sees the House as a bottleneck where it can block the broader sanctions bill. Leaders there could refer the matter of sanctions to the four House committees that have jurisdiction over the bill. If that happens, many supporters of the stepped-up sanctions fear that the measure will, at best, be inordinately delayed, and at worst, be decimated as lawmakers attempt to put their own mark on the bill.

The Russia sanctions are complicated by the fact that they were passed as part of a larger bill imposing new sanctions against Iran over their ballistic missile tests and the activities of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The compromise legislation, which came together after months of negotiations, was able to command the support of 98 senators last week - but many in the House would like to take more extensive punitive measures.

If the House committees each get an independent shot at the bill, 'it'll be a big mess,” said one senior Senate Democratic aide. It will also likely take longer than many lawmakers believe they have to hold the president in check.

The Trump administration has indicated that it is exploring giving Russia control over two compounds the Obama administration shuttered to Moscow late last year over suspicion they were used in intelligence-gathering. The Obama administration also expelled 35 Russian operatives from the country.

The Senate-passed bill expressly prevents the administration from turning those facilities back over to Moscow. But a senior State Department official is heading to Russia this week for talk about 'irritants” between the United States and Russia, according to news reports.

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Kelsey Snell contributed to this report.