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The U.S. Congress has struck a deal to send President Donald Trump a bill that could limit his power to lift sanctions against Russia.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said he reached an agreement with leaders in the House of Representatives to act on their version of the legislation, passed Tuesday in a 419-to-3 vote. It includes sanctions onNorth Korea that Corker previously said could hold up the bill. The original Senate bill addressed only Iran and Russia and passed that chamber by 98-2 last month.

The Senate will move to approve the Iran and Russia sanctions it originally passed six weeks ago, as well as the North Korea sanctions developed by the House, Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said in a statement. Going forward, the House has committed to expeditiously consider and pass enhancements to the North Korea language, which multiple members of the Senate hope to make in the very near future.

Passage would force Trump to either sign away part of his authority for unilateral action on sanctions against Russia or veto a bill that appears to have enough support to override an attempt to block it from becoming law.

He may sign the sanctions exactly the way they are or he may veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said of the president in an interview with CNN Thursday.

Russian relations are a sensitive topic for the Trump administration, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a special counsel in the Justice Department, and congressional committees are investigating connections between the presidents campaign and the Kremlin. Emails published by Trumps son show that members of his family and inner circle met with Russians in the run-up to last years election.

Read More: Russia Ponders Its Limited Options to Strike Back at Sanctions

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Taking a tough stance on Russia gives Republicans something to talk about as they head back to their districts for August recess after months of squabbling over health-care proposals and failure to produce a draft of their tax plan. The House is scheduled to leave Washington after this week, and the Senate has two more weeks to tackle its backlog of nominations and legislation, including this bill.

Threats of retaliation from Russia were almost immediate, following the Houses approval of this bill on Tuesday.

The sanctions are pretty sad from the viewpoint of Russian-American relations and prospects for developing them, and no less depressing from the perspective of international law and international trade, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday on a conference call. Russian President Vladimir Putin will decide on a response if the bill becomes law, he said.

Trump will likely sign the law because hes a prisoner of Congress and anti-Russian hysteria, Alexei Pushkov, a senator in Russias upper house of parliament, said on Twitter. The sanctions are a new stage of confrontation, he said.

The Senates original bill focused on Iran sanctions that were modeled after executive orders from previous administrations. The Russia part was later added in an amendment.

That bill was sent to the House before Trump met Putin at the Group of 20 summit earlier this month, but Republican leaders said they couldnt hold a vote that week due to procedural concerns. Officials from the Treasury and State departments met with a bipartisan group of House lawmakers to oppose the provision allowing lawmakers to block the presidents decision to lift sanctions.

The delay then gave time for companies to scale up their lobbying against parts of the bill, including a provision that would have restricted participation in international projects with even small Russia participation. That measure was changed last week to apply to only ventures with a 33 percent stake from Russian firms.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also insisted in including North Korea sanctions as a way to force the Senate to vote on a bill the House passed by a large margin months ago. Corkers statement about an agreement on this measure resolves concerns about further delays.

With assistance by Stepan Kravchenko

Link:
Deal Struck on Russia-Iran Sanctions Bill Curbing Trump's Power - Bloomberg