US Senate, House leaders strike a deal on sanctions

Senate and House leaders struck a deal to send a long-debated sanctions bill imposing new measures against Russia, Iran and North Korea to the president’s desk, after securing promises that Congress will consider even more stringent measures against North Korea down the line.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced that he agreed to have the Senate take up the measure that the House passed Tuesday on a vote of 419 to 3, after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreed that in the near future, the House would “expeditiously consider and pass enhancements” to the North Korea portion of the bill, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Chief among the “enhancements” Corker had sought up to the last minute was a provision that would have given Congress the ability to block the president from being able to ease punitive measures against North Korea in the future.
Such a provision, known as “congressional review,” would have been modeled on similar language in the sanctions bill that pertains to Russia sanctions. In addition to codifying and enhancing existing sanctions against Moscow, the legislation requires the president to notify Congress whenever he wants to change Russia sanctions policy. That notification then triggers a 30-day period in which Congress can vote to prevent the president from easing punitive measures against Moscow.
That level of congressional review is unprecedented in sanctions bills but was roundly popular in Congress, where many lawmakers have been uneasy about President Trump’s apparent coziness with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

Source: Mena