Connecticut House Delegation Statement on Reports President Trump is Seeking to Ease Russian Sanctions

Hartford, CT – Today, Reps. John B. Larson (CT-01), Joe Courtney (CT-02), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Jim Himes (CT-04), and Jahana Hayes (CT-05) responded to reporting from The Atlantic that President Trump is entertaining a plan to ease sanctions on Russia: 

“When we voted against the Senate’s sanction bill this month, we warned that stripping out the enforcement language would leave every decision about punishing Putin to a president who keeps siding with the Kremlin. It took less than two weeks and President Trump is entertaining a plan to ease sanctions on Russia.

“Just last week President Trump went to the United Nations and bragged about the ‘enormous new tariff authorities’ this bill handed him. So, the one part of the law he seems eager to enforce will needlessly raise costs on Americans by continuing his reckless trade policies, while the power he was given to cripple Putin’s war machine he is already looking to sign away. 

“That is exactly why the House-passed bill, H.R. 2913, required the president to act on sanctions. Without that requirement, sanctions are dependent on President Trump’s will to impose them – and President Trump has shown us time and time again he would rather be a friend to Putin than hold him accountable.

“We will keep fighting for military assistance for Ukraine and real sanctions that no president can waive away as a favor.”