Russian trade bill gets stuck

By Vicki Needham - 08/01/12 05:45 PM ET

Congress will not move a bill that would normalize trade ties with Russia before leaving for a five-week recess, business sources said Wednesday.

"We're disappointed and frustrated," said Christopher Wenk, head of international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Trade has been one of the few opportunities for bipartisan cooperation.

"But this bill is not getting done this week."

Wenk and representatives of other business groups say Congress is missing a good opportunity to help U.S. businesses in a sluggish economy by failing to pass the Russian bill.

Advocates say lawmakers have "dropped the ball" and that they are now looking to September for passage of a measure that would give Moscow permanent normal trade relations by repealing the 37-year-old Jackson-Vanik provision, a U.S. law aimed at encouraging the emigration of Russian Jews with the threat of higher tariffs.

Wenk said the Chamber would push for a commitment from congressional leaders to take up the bill during the brief eight days that Congress is in session in September before leaving town again until after the elections.

Otherwise, the bill will slip to the post-election lame-duck session and U.S. businesses could face higher tariffs for their exports, leaving them at a disadvantage to exporters in Europe and Canada.

"With Russia set to join the WTO on August 22, we continue to stress to lawmakers the urgency of passing Russia PNTR so the United States can compete in the growing Russian market," said David Thomas, head of trade for Business Roundtable said Wednesday.

The trade measure had gained momentum in the past month and seemed to have the wind at its back heading into this week on the heels of bipartisan action in the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees.

But that progress was supplanted by a growing amount of bickering among the parties and other concerns about passage.

Republicans including Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) have faulted the Obama administration for a lack of engagement on the issue.

"We have not heard if the administration is even making calls," a GOP aide told The Hill on Wednesday.

A Democratic aide countered that the bill wasn't taken up because it would have distracted from the GOP's messaging this week — a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for all incomes. Plus, the chambers have run out of steam and are scrambling to get out of town for the long break.

"It would override their tax message," the aide said.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) suggested Monday that Republicans were “slow-rolling” the Russia bill so as not to give President Obama a victory.

Russia's continued relationship with Syria has likely turned off some lawmakers from moving forward, some sources said.

The House and Senate also have to compromise on human rights legislation, which would be attached to the trade bill, that would punish Russian officials involved in the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after reporting government corruption in Russia.

Both the House and Senate bills would allow visas to be revoked and would place sanctions on those found to have been involved in Magnitsky’s death.

The Senate bill is broader and could be applied to human-rights violators outside of Russia.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the author of the Magnitsky bill, said Tuesday that talks were ongoing and that he thought the House was leaning toward accepting the Senate version, despite opposition from some business groups.

The National Foreign Trade Council that has argued that there could be global repercussions over the bill.

Failing to complete the bill means more than just missing the August deadline, it means that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won't have the bill to tout during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference set for Vladivostok in early September, another hope of business groups.