Posts Tagged ‘congress’
Putin Does His Own ‘Reset’
Democrats and the media who love them have ridiculed Mitt Romney for saying Russia is America’s “number one geopolitical foe,” and Vladimir Putin recently all but endorsed President Obama for re-election. But the Russian President keeps behaving in ways that prove the Republican had a point.
In the latest slap to America, the Kremlin announced this week it is expelling the U.S. Agency for International Development. The aid arm of the State Department has spent almost $3 billion in the last two decades to feed and modernize Russia and, in recent years, promote human rights and free elections. The relatively small $50 million annual program will close October 1. Justifying the move, the Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday accused the U.S. of trying “to influence political processes, including elections of various types.”
Among the groups that get American assistance is Golos, which has exposed the Kremlin’s electoral fraud. Golos and other NGOs will be hard-pressed to find new funding. Russians are reluctant to support democratic groups, lest they end up like oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a Siberian prison.
Stunned by large pro-democracy protests in Moscow and other cities last winter and spring, the Kremlin has cracked down. Anyone who takes a penny from an outside source is now branded a “foreign agent.” Penalties for public protests are stiffer. Prosecutors are dredging up criminal cases against activists, and more show trials are coming.
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Clinton Tells Russia That Sanctions Will Soon End
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Saturday that the United States would soon lift cold-war-era trade sanctions on Russia, but she did not address human rights legislation in Congress that has so far stalled passage, infuriated the Kremlin and become an unexpected issue in the American presidential race.
Attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting here in place of the campaigning President Obama, Mrs. Clinton welcomed Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization last month. And she said that the United States must now normalize trade relations so that American businesses can reap the benefits of Russia’s membership, including lower tariffs for American products.
Although the sanctions included in the 1974 law known as Jackson-Vanik are waived each year and have no practical effect, they violate W.T.O. rules, which could allow Russia to retaliate against American businesses.
The effort to grant Russia normal trade status, however, has become entangled in legislation that would punish Russian officials accused of abusing human rights, denying them visas and freezing their assets. That has raised doubts that any agreement on lifting the Jackson-Vanik provisions can be reached before the November election.
The human rights bill, which has bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after being prosecuted on charges that his supporters argue were manufactured to cover up official corruption.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential challenger, injected the issue into the campaign last week by issuing a statement saying that, as president, he would normalize trade with Russia only if the Magnitsky bill were enacted. The Obama administration, by contrast, has opposed the bill as too expansive and lobbied against mixing it with the trade issue, while expressing support for addressing rights abuses in Russia in some way.
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Clinton sees Congress moving on Russia trade measure
The U.S. Congress may move this month to upgrade trade relations with Russia, a key part of the Obama administration’s effort to bolster sometimes strained ties with Moscow and open the Russian market to more U.S. companies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.
Clinton, addressing the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting in Vladivostok, said the Obama administration was working closely with Congress on lifting the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, Cold War-era legislation which has blocked normal trade privileges for Russia.
“To make sure our companies get to compete here in Russia, we are working closely with the United States congress to terminate the application to Jackson-Vanik to Russia and grant Russia permanent normalized trade relations,” Clinton said.
“We hope that the Congress will act on this important piece of legislation this month.”
Congress is under pressure to approve the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) bill because of Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month, a move the United States strongly supported.
U.S. business groups hope the House of Representatives and Senate will pass the legislation in September before lawmakers return home to campaign. Businesses worry that without it U.S. firms may not get access to newly opened services markets and be subject to potential arbitrary Russian trade reprisals.
But with concerns in Congress about Moscow’s support for Iran and Syria, as well as its broader human rights record, the timing of a vote remains unclear.
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Romney backs Russia trade bill only with human rights added
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would support legislation to upgrade U.S. trade relations with Russia only if Congress also passes a measure to go after Russian human rights violators, his campaign said on Thursday.
“Gov. Romney believes that permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) should only be granted to Russia on the condition that the Magnitsky human rights bill be passed,” Lanhee Chen, policy director for the Romney campaign, said in a statement.
Chen was referring to legislation being considered in Congress that would require the U.S. government to impose sanctions on people believed responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who died in a Russian prison, and other human rights violators.
“(Romney) disagrees with the Obama administration’s attempts to scuttle the Magnitsky bill and its overall reluctance to shine a light on human rights abuses in Russia and the Putin government’s backsliding on democratic principles,” Chen said.
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Dem platform differs from GOP on trade with Russia
The 2012 Democratic party platform released Monday differs from the GOP platform on trade with Russia.
Congress, as early as next week, could take up a bill to grant permanent normal trade relations(PNTR) to Russia.
The Democratic platform, like the GOP document, supports PNTR. But, unlike the GOP, Democrats are not demanding that PNTR be linked to a separate human-rights bill.
Last week, the GOP platform stated: “Russia should be granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations, but not without sanctions on Russian officials who have used the government to violate human rights.”
It said the GOP supports “enactment of the Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act as a condition of expanded trade relations with Russia.”
The Democratic platform makes no such mention of the Magnitsky bill, which would slap financial and visa sanctions on those accused of murdering Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
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Sen. Cardin optimistic on Magnitsky bill
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, interviewed at the Convention Center, says he’s optimistic that the House will pass his Magnitsky legislation.
It’s an amendment to the normal trade relations with Russia bill and would bar Russian human rights violators from entering the United States. It’s named for the Russian lawyer who defended dissidents and who died in prison after being denied medical treatment.
“It’s an outrage,” Cardin says, with strong emphasis, “something you just can’t be silent about.” He goes on, “Russians I talk to have encouraged me. They say ‘our country can do better than that.’”
He emphasizes this is a bipartisan cause, that he’s working closely on every step with Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and has been in touch with the House Republican leadership. The Obama administration has pushed against including the Magnitsky amendment.
But Cardin said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s letter in response to his letter asking to bar the human rights violators “showed some interest.”
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Get tough with Russia
Boston Herald
The Senate and House next month are expected to approve legislation aimed at punishing people involved in the beating death of a lawyer in a Russian jail cell. Passage will show Russia that, whatever the warm feelings toward Russia of the White House and the State Department, Americans are fed up with growing lawlessness in that country.
The Russians have threatened grave though unspecified retaliation if the provisions, likely to be part of a bill granting Russia the status of “Normal Trading Relations,” pass. Such a designation is needed to trade with Russia now that it has joined the World Trade Organization.
The provisions would deny visas to and freeze U.S. assets (if any) of 60 individuals who had a hand in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who had represented a mutual fund investing in Russian companies. Magnitsky had exposed a ring that stole $230 million in Russian government funds, using documents of the mutual fund, for a criminal gang. His death in 2009 was never investigated as a murder, even though a local police officer wanted to and then-president Dimitri Medvedev called for a “thorough” investigation. Prosecutors said they found no wrongdoing and claimed that Magnitsky died of heart failure.
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US business hopeful Congress passes Russia trade bill in Sept
Reuters
A U.S. business group on Tuesday said they were hopeful Congress would approve a bill to upgrade U.S. trade relations with Russia after it returns from a month-long break and warned that U.S. companies would lose business if lawmakers don’t act.
Dan Flaherty, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, said the group was gearing up its lobbying efforts for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Sept. 12, which it hopes will be followed by quick Senate action.
If not, U.S. exporters will be left at a significant disadvantage to competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere around the world after Russia formally enters the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, Flaherty said.
“Our European friends are already in the market in a major way. (Failing to approve the Russia trade bill) is an invitation for them to solidify and expand their presence in areas where we would be more competitive,” he said.
Congress is under pressure to approve “permanent normal trade relations” with Russia by repealing a Cold War provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which ties normal U.S. tariff rates for Russia to emigration issues.
The White House has judged Russia to be in compliance with Jackson-Vanik for nearly two decades, but the measure remains on the books and is at odds with WTO rules requiring members to provide each other “unconditional” normal trade relations.
Business groups, which have been working for months to win approval of PNTR, are concerned the issue could be delayed until after the November presidential and congressional elections or even into 2013, if lawmakers don’t act quickly in September.
In Geneva, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy told Reuters he was optimistic Congress would approve PNTR in the coming weeks because “if U.S. was not to do this, this probably would be a disadvantage for U.S. business.”
Flaherty told reporters he understood Republican leaders in the House of Representatives planned to bring up the Russia PNTR bill on Sept. 12 under a procedure usually reserved for non-controversial legislation.
The bill is expected to be combined with human rights legislation known as the “Magnitsky bill,” and would require a two-thirds vote for approval, instead of a simple majority, because of the expedited approval procedure, he said.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican, said in early August the House was prepared to vote on PNTR and the Magnitsky bill when lawmakers return “should the Senate and President (Barack Obama) commit to support passage before the end of September.”
A spokesman for Cantor on Tuesday referred reporters to that statement and said he could not confirm that the vote had been set for Sept. 12.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, did not immediately respond to a query on the possibility of Senate action in September.
Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, estimated that as many as 80 House Democrats would have to join with Republicans to get to the approximately 290 votes needed for approval in that chamber.
A House vote in early September would put pressure on the Senate to take up the issue in the few legislative days left before the elections, he said. payday loan микрозайм онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займы на карту срочно
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U.S. Companies Worry About Effect of Russia Joining W.T.O.
After two decades of negotiations, Russia will finally join the World Trade Organization on Wednesday. The lower trade barriers that come along with membership will open up new opportunities for foreign companies to do business in Russia.
But American companies are guaranteed no such advantages — and may even face higher Russian tariffs than their competitors from other countries.
Because of broader policy concerns about the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissidents and its support for rogue governments, Congress has balked at the Obama administration’s request to grant Russia permanent normal trade relation status. That status is important since the W.T.O. requires that any country that seeks to benefit from it must apply the same trade rules to all member countries.
Major American exporters to Russia, like Caterpillar, Deere and General Electric, are worried about the potential impact on their business from the Congressional inaction. Across all sectors of the economy, Russia will lower import tariffs to 7 percent, from about 15 percent today, for the 155 countries in the trade organization. Although Russian officials say they do not have any immediate intention of applying discriminatory tariffs against American companies, they could legally do so at any time.
Russia was the last major economy that was not part of the trade group, and joining is expected to be a boon for Russian consumers and businesses. Exporting companies in Europe, Asia and the United States eagerly await open access to a population of 142 million people with growing incomes and an expanding middle class.
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