Congress Attempts To Override Trump’s Foreign Policy

Dec. 13, 2019 (EIRNS)—The latest Congressional effort to subvert President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is, as usual, aimed at U.S.-Russia relations, immediately after Trump’s and Pompeo successful meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The day after these meetings, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the Stopping Malign Activities from Russia Terrorism (SMART) Act, calling on the State Department to give appropriate Congressional committees a straight answer on whether Russia could be designated a sponsor of terrorism. The bill, introduced by Cory Gardner (R-CO) in April, also requires the State Department to determine and report to Congress whether the militia in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine can be designated foreign terrorist organizations. The report should be presented no later than 90 days after the proposed law comes into force.

Congress has also recently taken up increased sanctions against Iran to undermine the recent prisoner exchange organized by the Trump Administration; passed a bill condemning the Armenian genocide, which is designed to disrupt the relations between Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and inserted the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act into the National Defense Authorization Act, which would place further sanctions on Syria, as well as those security forces operating inside of Syria, namely, Russia and Iran.

Congress is considering a bipartisan bill to prevent Trump from pulling out of the 70-year-old NATO alliance. The fear of a NATO pullout was expressed by John Bolton at a Morgan Stanley private gathering earlier this month, where he said that a 2020 re-election of Trump could embolden him to go “full isolationist” and pull out of NATO. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the bill’s lead sponsor, said it was a response to fears that the Trump Administration is actively considering withdrawal. “We’re aware that it has been seriously debated and seriously considered in the White House at the highest levels,” Kaine told Britain’s Guardian daily. Kaine predicted that his bill would pass the House and get a veto-proof majority in the Senate.