Sweeping Russia sanctions legislation championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham cleared a procedural hurdle in the House on Monday, likely teeing up a full House vote later in the week.<\/p>\n

The House Rules Committee voted to advance the measure, following a heated exchange between lawmakers over a provision that would give the White House more tariff authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we have an opportunity to help end the war in Europe and project peace through strength around the globe,\u201d Rep. Michael McCaul<\/a> (R-Texas) said during the hearing, arguing that \u201cfailure to act\u201d on the bill would empower Moscow and encourage other adversaries like North Korea and Iran to further their aggressive actions as well.<\/p>\n

But the legislation isn\u2019t out of the woods yet. House GOP leaders could still face procedural obstacles on the floor during the party-line vote that sets the time for debate. House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> can only afford to lose a handful of Republican votes or risk having the measure caught up in a procedural snag.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a time constraint: If lawmakers don\u2019t vote on the legislation this week, it\u2019ll get punted until after the midterms as the House is set to leave town again next week to campaign for reelection in their home districts.<\/p>\n

Johnson suggested to reporters Monday that he could avoid that procedural mess entirely by moving the bill under a fast-track process that would require a bipartisan two-thirds majority for passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we\u2019ll have the votes,\u201d Johnson said, adding that if the procedural rule vote fails, he would shift to the expedited method, known as suspension of the rules.<\/p>\n

Although the sanctions legislation, which has White House backing<\/a>, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate in August<\/a>, its progress slowed<\/a> after summer recess amid flagging Republican enthusiasm and growing Democratic opposition. Many Democrats have argued against the bill, saying it would hand too much tariff authority to a White House already liberally applying tariffs against both friends and foes alike.<\/p>\n

In addition to mandatory sanctions for Russia\u2019s leadership and energy sector \u2014 as well as collaborators in Moscow\u2019s defense industry and so-called shadow fleet \u2014 the bill would hand President Donald Trump the power to hit top buyers of Russian oil with 100 percent tariffs.<\/p>\n

New York Rep. Gregory Meeks<\/a>, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the measure would get \u201coverwhelming Democratic support\u201d if the secondary tariffs were excised.<\/p>\n

Meeks offered multiple amendments to the legislation, including a move to strike the tariff language, one to clarify that the EU is not a \u201ccountry\u201d for the purpose of the secondary tariffs and one to change the broad waiver language in the bill so that sanctions can only be waived if doing so was \u201cvital to the national security of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deeply flawed, despite what its title says,\u201d Meeks said of the bill. \u201cIt\u2019s unlikely to result in any new sanctions on Russia. It will, however, hand the president of the United States sweeping new tariff authorities that he can abuse to raise the cost on the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation is only headed to the House floor because Trump told Johnson he wanted the broad tariff authorities \u201cimmediately,\u201d Meeks said, reiterating comments he told POLITICO last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Steny Hoyer<\/a> (D-Md.), who cosponsored the House version of the bill, said that he supported all of Meeks\u2019 amendments \u2014 except for stripping the tariff language.<\/p>\n

Instead, Hoyer offered an amendment that would identify the 10 countries that would be affected by tariffs: China, India, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Slovakia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n

While the White House isn\u2019t a fan of the amendment, Trump won\u2019t veto the bill, Hoyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do not pass this bill, there will be great joy in the Kremlin and great devastation in Kyiv,\u201d Hoyer said.<\/p>\n

The committee ultimately rejected both Meeks\u2019 and Hoyer\u2019s amendments.<\/p>\n

Despite Democratic opposition over the tariff provisions, the top Democrat on the committee Rep. Jim McGovern<\/a> (D-Mass.) said he thought the bill would pass \u201cno matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"