Why Is House GOP Refusing To Take Up Senate Bill Strengthening Russian Sanctions

A few weeks ago I wrote that there is already proof that the Russians colluded with Republicans in the 2016 election and it was designed to elect down-ballot Republicans more so than Donald Trump himself. In addition, there is also evidence that the Republican House leadership was well aware that the Russians were funding at least one GOP House candidate and were also well aware that the Russians were also targeting their hacks on what were competitive House races in order help elect Republicans.

So a cynical guy like myself is hardly surprised that Bloomberg is reporting that the House is citing a procedural roadblock which is keeping it from taking up the recently passed Senate bill that required the Trump administration to get Congressional approval in order to ease or lift sanctions on Russia and authorized new sanctions on Russian-linked individuals or entities that engaged in "malicious cyber activity". The same bill also authorizes some additional sanctions on Iran.

House Republicans, however, say they can not take up the bill because it violates the origination clause that requires any revenue-producing bill originate in the House. According to House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Kevin Brady, "This isn’t a policy issue. It’s not a partisan issue. It is a constitutional issue that we’ll address in a positive way. Revenue measures have to start in the House. The Senate can move pretty quickly to correct that provision and send it back to us. That’d be my preference."

It's interesting that Republicans, who have demolished virtually all governing norms over the last few years, can't find a way to get around this particular obstacle. In fact, the easiest way around this issue would be for the House to craft its own bill with exactly the same language as the Senate and pass it. The two bills could then be reconciled, passed, and signed into law. There is absolutely nothing unusual about this procedure and it has been used probably hundreds of times in the past.

The fact that Republicans are balking on this issue makes you really wonder how much they relied on Russian hacking in the last election, how much Russian dark money is funding their campaigns today, and how much the GOP is planning to rely on the Russians in 2018.