A bill that would expand sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran to deter hostility toward the United States and its allies, and would subject Russian sanctions relief to congressional review, cleared the House on Tuesday on a 419-3 vote.
U.S. Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Mimi Walters (R-CA) each supported the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, H.R. 3364. The legislation would target corruption in Russia’s economy and write pre-existing sanctions against Russia into law. It would also ramp up pressure on those who aid Iran and North Korea’s ballistic missile programs.
“These sanctions put hostile regimes in Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang on notice,” Meehan said. “Each of these regimes continues to pursue campaigns of aggression and belligerence, but today’s bipartisan vote shows they will not go unpunished.”
Walters said Moscow’s repeated efforts to undermine U.S. democracy and destabilize the world won’t be tolerated.
“In addition to their inappropriate attempts to influence the 2016 election, Russia has employed various campaigns and cyber operations to delegitimize the NATO alliance,” Walters continued. “Vladimir Putin’s support for the brutal Assad regime in Syria, and Russian aggression in Ukraine demonstrates Russia’s willingness to upend stability throughout the world.”
H.R. 3364 would also clarify provisions of previous sanctions that hurt American businesses and benefited Russian oligarchs that were meant to be targeted. It would take additional steps to cut off North Korean access to international ports to curb illicit trade.
“North Korea continues to rapidly expand its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs with the intent to develop the capability of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental United States in the coming years, according to U.S. intelligence estimates,” Walters said. “With nuclear weapons and missile tests expected in the near future, it is more important than ever to eliminate Kim Jong-un’s access to international financial markets.”
Lawmakers viewed the bill as a means of addressing the shortcomings of past administrations’ policies regarding Russia, Iran and North Korea.
“When countries directly threaten our national security and weaken global stability, we take action,” Hill said.
Hill, a member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, said he was pleased that the bill includes important provisions that strengthen the anti-terrorism tools at the Department of the Treasury. “This action demonstrates that America is returning to serve as an engaged world leader that takes action against corruption, gross violations of human rights, support for terrorism, illegal testing of ballistic missiles and invasion of neighboring countries,” he said.
Meehan agreed that the sanctions would limit the regimes’ ability to finance aggression, human rights abuses and terrorism.
“These sanctions will hit these regimes where it will hurt…,” Meehan said.