WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the House companion to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) bipartisan legislation to codify sanctions on Russia and require Congressional approval before sanctions are waived or terminated. As ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, Brown plays a key national security role in overseeing sanctions on Russia and other countries.

“The Ukrainian community in Ohio knows firsthand the dangers of unchecked Russian aggression,” Brown said. “Lifting or relaxing sanctions now would only reward Russia’s attempts to undermine democracy – from Crimea and Eastern Ukraine to our own U.S. election. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation will give Congress – and more importantly, the people we represent– more of a say in this critical national security debate.”

Brown joined U.S. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to introduce the Russia Sanctions Review Act last week in the Senate. The House version was introduced by U.S. Reps. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), Tom Rooney (R-FL), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA), and Mike Turner (R-OH).

The bill follows comments by President Donald Trump and senior advisors in his Administration about the possibility of relaxing existing sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Crimea and presence elsewhere in eastern Ukraine. Enactment of Brown’s legislation would ensure that President Trump could not move unilaterally to remove these sanctions without giving Congress a 120-day period to weigh in on the decision.  

Brown’s Russia Sanctions Review Act would:

  • Codify current sanctions Executive Orders against Russia, to make it more difficult for the President to relax sanctions without Congressional approval.
  • Require the President to submit a report to Congress describing any proposed changes to sanctions prior to taking any action to waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation. The report would have to contain a certification that the Government of Russia has ceased activities in Ukraine as well as cyberattacks against the U.S. government and U.S. persons.
  • Provide a 120-day review period following submission of such a report by the President, during which time the President could not take any action to waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation. 
  • Provide for expedited procedures in both Houses of Congress for review of a Resolution of Disapproval that, if enacted, would have the effect of prohibiting the President from taking any action to waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation. 

###