The White House is pushing back on provisions of a Russia sanctions bill masterminded by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), claiming it would allow Congress to "micromanage" the president on foreign policy.
Graham and GOP "hawks" have pushed the bill for months, according to Politico, but Trump seems to have just now had an epiphany about Russian President Vladimir Putin's duplicitous behavior when it comes to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Trump expressed his frustration with the Russian president, saying, "We get a lot of bull---- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Trump also let on that he would be willing to consider sanctions against Russia to get Putin back to the negotiating table regarding the war.
"The current draft of the bill allows the president to waive a 500 percent tariff on countries that buy Russian oil and uranium for up to 180 days, and Graham said Tuesday he has agreed to revise the bill to allow for a second waiver, subject to congressional oversight," according to the report.
That's not good enough for the White House, which is working to preserve Trump's "sole authority to oversee U.S. foreign policy."
“The current version would subject the president’s foreign policy decisions to micromanagement by Congress through a joint resolution of disapproval process. … That’s a nonstarter for us,” a senior White House official told Politico. “The administration is not going to be micromanaged by the Congress on the president’s foreign policy. The bill needs a waiver authority that is complete.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Wednesday that the measure could make it to the Senate floor later this month, but only if Trump is "fully onboard."
That may be tricky since Trump declared this week, "that any additional Russia sanctions would be 'at my option.'"