Disapproval of President's Proposal Relating to Application of Certain Sanctions

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, 1988 was a good year.

Mr. Speaker, today we vote on H.J. Res. 30 to disapprove the President's proposal to terminate sanctions on Russian companies, including United Company RUSAL. My colleagues and I have serious concerns about many of the questions that, to this date, remain unanswered from the Trump administration.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is a sanctioned individual known as a bad actor with close ties to the Putin administration. The agreement reached between the Department of the Treasury and these entities seems to allow Deripaska to maintain considerable control and influence of Russian energy holding companies.

A week ago, I asked the Treasury Department to delay the lifting of these sanctions to allow for Congress to conduct meaningful oversight. My staff informs me that the Treasury Department has confirmed receipt of my letter, but to this moment, we have not received any word from Treasury on their intentions. Given an expiration date of tomorrow, it is unlikely that we will.

As Members of this Congress, our duty to the American people is to exercise the oversight that ensures that the administration's actions are, indeed, legitimate. We have a duty to ensure that this administration takes a firm stand on bad behavior by the Russian Government.

I think some of the more important elements of this consideration could be taken care of with just a few months of delay while we exercise our constitutional responsibilities.

The Russian Government has, time and again, prevented us from doing what I have just described. We intend here to proceed, even in the aftermath of this decision today and what the Senate did yesterday, to consider and to take a look at this act that we believe today violates the intention of our congressional responsibilities.

The malicious cyberinterference that has attempted to subvert Western democracies, including ours, needs to be fully examined. I urge my colleagues to vote for this joint resolution.

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