The US Senate has overcome the first procedural hurdle on the way to passing a bill on tough new sanctions against Russia and Iran, according to the results of the vote.
The procedural vote on the termination of the debate on the transition to consideration of the bill is still ongoing, but the necessary threshold of 60 votes has already been overcome: at the moment 75 senators have voted in favor, 11 against. This allows the Senate to proceed to the debate on the document, which, according to the rules, takes up to 30 hours.
However, senators may not wait for the expiration of 30 hours. If they agree to shorten the debate time, a vote on the transition to consideration of the bill may take place earlier.
The next step will be to vote on the issue of moving to direct consideration of the bill after the expiration of 30 hours of debate. If it is approved by a simple majority, the discussion of the document will begin, after which the senators will have to hold another procedural vote with the necessary threshold of 60 votes before the final vote on the bill by a simple majority.
The legislative initiative, which was developed with the participation of the deceased Senator Lindsey Graham❶, provides for 100% duties against the five largest buyers of Russian energy carriers and 500% on all imports from Russia in the USA.
At the same time, the document provides for exceptions for countries that account for less than 15% of annual gas exports from the Russian Federation if they reduce purchases, but retains the idea of imposing a duty of up to 500% on all direct imports from Russia in the USA.
The document also imposes sanctions against the Bank of Russia, Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank. In addition, the initiative instructs US President Donald Trump to ensure a complete ban on the import of Russian uranium, including Rosatom products, and to impose regular restrictions against the leadership of the state corporation.
At the same time, the Senate needs to have time to hold a final vote on the bill before August 6, when the upper house will leave for the August holidays. After that, both chambers of Congress will resume full-fledged work only in early September.
❶An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring
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