Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Rep. Brady Says Passing PNTR for Russia Is ‘Doable’This Summer, but a Hard Lift

Bloomberg BNA

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) June 19 said that passing legislation allowing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status for Russia was “doable” by this summer although it would be a “hard lift.”

Brady also said he would prefer to see Russia PNTR legislation and a bill addressing Russian human rights concerns move separately.

“There’s no question passing PNTR for Russia is definitely doable, and it is doable this summer,” Brady said in a keynote address at a Peterson Institute for International Economics conference. “But there must be a meeting of the minds on the strategy, just as you do for every trade agreement.”

Brady said that the White House must ramp up its efforts to convince Congress to approve PNTR for Russia before it accedes to the World Trade Organization, adding that administration officials would have an opportunity to make the case at a June 20 hearing of the full Ways and Means Committee.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), International Trade Subcommittee ranking member John Thune (R-S.D.), Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Armed Services Committee ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) recently introduced legislation (S. 3285) to terminate the application of Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to Russia so the president can grant PNTR (113 DER A-30, 6/13/12). At that time, Baucus and Kerry simultaneously unveiled their strategy of advancing human rights legislation along with the trade bill by adding the full text of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (S. 1039) as an amendment to the bill that would terminate Title IV of the 1974 Trade Act.