Posts Tagged ‘mccain’
Bill for normal trade with Russia meets opposition
A Senate plan to lift Cold War restrictions on trade with Russia drew immediate resistance from Senate Republicans who said Congress must first address Russia’s poor human rights record and existing economic and political policies.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., on Tuesday introduced bipartisan legislation to normalize trade relations with Russia by repealing the 1974 Jackson-Vanik act that tied trade with the then-Soviet Union to Moscow’s allowing Jews and other minorities to leave the country.
The repeal of Jackson-Vanik is necessary if U.S. businesses are to enjoy the lower tariffs and increased access to Russian markets that will become available when Russia joins the World Trade Organization this summer. Supporters of normalized trade said it could lead to a doubling of U.S. exports to Russia.
“Jackson-Vanik served its purpose during the Cold War, but it’s a relic of another era that now stands in the way of our farmers, ranchers and businesses pursuing opportunities to grow and create jobs,” Baucus said in a statement.
Baucus was joined in sponsoring the bill by Senate Foriegn Relations Committee chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and Republicans John McCain of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota.
But eight Finance Committee Republicans, led by ranking Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, wrote a letter to Baucus saying that Congress cannot ignore ongoing issues with Russia in moving to normalize trade relations.
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Top US Senators Introduce Bill to Lift Trade Restrictions With Russia
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday to lift trade restrictions on Russia, with the aim of passing the bill along with measures to protect human rights in the country before it joins the World Trade Organization as expected this summer.
The bill would approve permanent, normal trade relations with Russia by the August recess, a top trade priority for the Obama administration.
But Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) also vowed to incorporate provisions being championed by an increasing number of lawmakers on both sides to punish Russian officials for any human-rights violations.
Administration officials have called for Congress to pass the trade bill separately from any human-rights legislation, a plan that has also been supported by Rep. Dave Camp (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which overseas trade issues.
Mr. Baucus said that once the Senate passes the bill, he would work with the House to ensure any final version of the legislation includes the full text of the so-called “Magnitsky” bill, named after a lawyer who died in a Russian prison in 2009 after accusing government officials of fraud.
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Baucus to pair Russian trade bill with Magnitsky human rights measure
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.
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Moscow vows ‘response’ if U.S. passes bill named for whistleblower
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill this week that would blacklist several dozen Russian officials linked to the November 2009 death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Kremlin has responded vehemently to the proposed action, promising to blacklist certain U.S. officials from entering Russia.
Magnitsky was a lawyer who worked for the UK-based Hermitage Capital Management firm in Russia.
In that capacity, he accused Russian tax and police officials of embezzling $230 million and was arrested by Russian police. He was beaten to death while in police custody, triggering an uproar from Russian and international human rights groups.
The Kremlin has tried to cover up the crime and has refused to cooperate with independent investigations.
The outrage reverberated in Washington. Last year, a group of U.S. senators led by John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill that would blacklist Russian officials involved in the case from entering the United States. unshaven girls hairy woman https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php срочный займ
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Magnitsky Bill to Get Vote Thursday
U.S. lawmakers plan to vote on the “Magnitsky List” legislation this week, raising the specter of a harsh response from the Kremlin.
The bill, introduced by a group of influential U.S. senators that includes former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, would blacklist Russian officials linked to the 2009 jail death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other officials implicated in human rights violations.
Russia has accused the United States of meddling in its internal affairs with the legislation.
“If the new anti-Russian Magnitsky bill is passed, it would require a response from us,” presidential aide Yury Ushakov said last week, adding that Moscow hoped it would not happen, RIA-Novosti reported.
The U.S. House’s Foreign Affairs Committee will put the bill up for a vote Thursday, according to a committee schedule published over the weekend.
Magnitsky was arrested shortly after he accused tax and police officials of embezzling $230 million. A independent inquiry by the Kremlin’s human rights council found that he died after being beaten by prison guards. One prison doctor has been charged with negligence, but no one has been convicted in the death.
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Russia to Retaliate if U.S. Passes Magnitsky Bill
Russia will take retaliatory measures if the United States replaces the Soviet-era Jackson-Vanik amendment hampering Russian-U.S. trade with new “anti-Russian laws” related to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian presidential aide said on Tuesday.
“If the new anti-Russian Magnitsky bill is passed, it would require some response measure from us,” Yury Ushakov said, adding that Moscow hoped it would not happen.
A group of influential U.S. senators, including former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, proposed in mid-March introducing a blacklist of Russian officials allegedly linked to the Hermitage Capital lawyer, Magnitsky’s death in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in November 2009, in exchange for the cancellation of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
The Jackson-Vanik amendment, passed in 1974, barred favorable trade relations with the Soviet Union because it wouldn’t let Jewish citizens emigrate. It has been defunct for the past two decades, and both Moscow and Washington have warned that, if not repealed, it would be an obstacle to productive U.S.-Russian trade relations when Russia enters the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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U.S. Senator Slams Putin for Protest Crackdown
Outspoken U.S. Senator John McCain has criticized President Vladimir Putin for a recent crackdown on protesters, as well as for oligarchy, corruption and activities in the Baltics and Ukraine.
In an interview with the Voice of America’s Russian service, McCain said Putin had to “understand that there is great resistance to the way he governs,” “the way the elections were held” and how “demonstrators were being cracked down” on last week.
“People in Russia are very unhappy with this oligarchy and corruption that goes from top to bottom,” McCain said in the interview Friday, adding that liberal opposition politician Boris Nemtsov had told him that the protest movement was “not gonna be stopped.”
McCain also said U.S. concern should be expanded to Putin’s activities in Ukraine, the three Baltic states and the “military buildup” in Kaliningrad.
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Soviet Jewry group supports easing US-Russia trade
As the Obama administration tries to remove Russia from US legislation restricting trade between the two countries, it has allies from an unlikely corner: those who originally lobbied for the restriction on behalf of Russian Jewry.
The US wants to remove Russia from a list of former Soviet countries penalized economically under the Jackson-Vanick amendment, since the restriction could hurt American businesses once Russia joins the World Trade Organization as anticipated in the coming months.
The amendment hurts Russia’s trade status unless the US certifies each year that Russia is allowing its citizens to emigrate freely, a waiver the US began issuing after Russia let its Jewish population leave en masse for Israel and other countries in the 1990s. Because the waiver must be renewed annually, however, it prevents the US and Russia from having permanent normal trade relations.
Since WTO rules require that countries not have any trade barriers against member states, US companies doing business in Russia would be subject to penalties once Russia finishes the process of joining the organization.
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Updated Magnitsky Act Introduced in U.S. Congress
Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer who represented Hermitage Capital Management – an UK-based investment fund company who specialised in Russian markets and prided themselves on exposing corruption and misconduct in Russian enterprises. In 2006 the CEO of the company had his visa annulled and was labelled a ‘threat to national security’ by the Russian government. Yeah, more like a threat to the pockets of corrupt businessmen and bureaucrats. Anyway, a year later, after the company refused to pay bribe money to ‘officials’, their Moscow offices were raided. As were the offices of Firestone Duncan, the law firm who represented Hermitage Capital and were Magnitsky worked. Documents and computers were seized. Hermitage had become a victim of ‘corporate raiding’ – a practice in which companies and assets are seized with the aid of corrupt law enforcement officials and judges. Well, the Hermitage case is really interesting (and quite frustrating) and you should go and look it up but we are here to talk about Magnitsky.
Sergei represented Hermitage on charges of tax evasion and fraud. Y’know, them things the government wheels out when they want to get rid of a business (or steal it) – I’m being cheeky today, excuse me. During his investigations he came to believe that tax fraud had been committed, but not by Hermitage. He discovered evidence that suggested that a group of criminals had stolen Hermitage documents and used them to illegally reclaim £140m of taxes from the Russian government – money that belonged not to Hermitage, but to the Russian people. If Magnitsky’s suspicions were true then the police, the judiciary, tax officials, bankers and the Russian mafia would’ve been implicated. His claims were initially dismissed but his main accusation, that Hermitage had not committed fraud but had in fact been victimized by it would eventually be validated.
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