Baucus to pair Russian trade bill with Magnitsky human rights measure

The Hill

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is linking support for increased trade with Russia to a human rights bill that could punish Russian officials.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Tuesday announced in a letter he backs a plan to pair legislation granting normal trade relations with Russia with the so-called Magnitsky legislation that would freeze assets and deny U.S. visas to Russian officials linked to human rights abuses.

The bill is named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died while in police custody.

Russia is strongly opposed to the Magnitsky bill and has warned its passage would cool relations with the U.S. and could lead to retaliation. The Obama administration does not support the legislation.

Multinational companies have also expressed alarm at the Magnitsky bill, fearing it could result in sanctions on their businesses.

But Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and other supporters of the bill argue the U.S. must take a tougher stand against human rights abuses in Russia. They hope to force the issue by paring the bill with legislation granting Russia permanent normal trade relations, a requirement for the U.S. with Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organization.

If the U.S. does not grant Russia the improved trade status, Russia could impose higher tariffs on U.S. products.

Baucus’s letter to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he backs their position that passage of permanent normal trade relations for Russia is contingent upon passage of the Magnitsky bil.

The letter said he supports the position and will “ensure that these two important pieces of legislation can be linked together, reported out of the committee and voted on by the full Senate as soon as possible this year, probably by the August recess.”

“I appreciate Sen. Baucus’s written commitment that he will work for Senate passage of both of these pieces of legislation as soon as possible this year,” McCain said.

“As we take steps to liberalize U.S. trade with Russia, as we should, we must also maintain our longstanding support for human rights and the fight against corruption in Russia.”

Businesses are concerned about a provision in the draft of the Magnitsky bill that would target “agents” of human rights abuses. Some fear the language could apply to vendors supplying companies that are implicated in rights violations.

A business source opposing the Magnitsky bill said that the Baucus announcement brought at least one bit of good news.

“Although we continue to have reservations to the text of the Magnitsky bill, moving it together with PNTR will ease the concern of some companies that the Congress might pass Magnitsky and not PNTR, which would leave us with the worst of all worlds – unilateral sanctions and no trade benefits,” the lobbyist said.

The source noted that the version of the bill that passed out of House Foreign Affairs last week did limit the scope of violations to Russia, rather than punishing human rights abuses worldwide

“On the details of the bill, we felt that limiting it to Russia, as the House did, was a big improvement. On the Senate side, we expect what will ultimately be offered will be the product of ongoing discussions between Sens. Cardin, Baucus and Kerry and the Administration,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Baucus, along with Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Trade, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Armed Services Committee ranking member McCain unveiled legislation Tuesday that would nix the Jackson-Vanik measure.

Jackson-Vanik is a 37-year-old provision designed to put pressure on Communist nations for human-rights abuses and emigration policies. Since the end of the Cold War, it has been used as leverage in trade talks to win concessions from Russia and other former Soviet bloc states.

Russia is expected to vote to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) on July 4, giving Congress until the August recess to act or face losing the benefits of normalized trade relations, such as lower tariffs and enforcement of trade rules.

Linking the two bills could complicate passage before Russia is granted full rights in early August unless the House and Senate can move identical human rights language or quickly come to resolution in a conference, an issue Baucus raised in the letter.

Before Baucus’s announcement, the head of the Business Roundtable said he was optimistic that Congress will pass legislation before the August recess.

“The parties will work together … and coalesce to a late July vote,” John Engler, Business Roundtable president, told reporters.

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