With help from Phelim Kine, Lara Seligman and Connor O’Brien
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FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY –– Five House members will imminently introduce legislation to officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, putting them and Congress on a collision course with the secretary of State, who argues only he can slap that label on a country.
The bill — co-led by Reps. TED LIEU (D-Calif.), JOE WILSON (R-S.C.), JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine), ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.) and TOM MALINOWSKI (D-N.J.) — says that “the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have been determined to be a country the government of which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” If the ‘‘Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act’’ clears both chambers, the pressure will be on President JOE BIDEN to sign it into law. And if he does, Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s country will join an ignominious list featuring North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Iran.
“The United States must use every tool we have to stop Russia from its violent aggression in Ukraine,” Lieu told NatSec Daily. “Russia supports proxies conducting terrorism against civilians around the globe, from Syria to Ukraine. By designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, this legislation increases consequences on Putin’s murderous behavior.”
The measure’s introduction comes after NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) warned Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN last week”,”link”:{“target”:”NEW”,”attributes”:[],”url”:”https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/20/pelosi-to-blinken-label-russia-as-terrorist-state-or-else-congress-will-00047076″,”_id”:”00000182-46c0-dc88-a3eb-57e04b740008″,”_type”:”33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df”},”_id”:”00000182-46c0-dc88-a3eb-57e04b740009″,”_type”:”02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266″}”Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) warned Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN last week that if he didn’t label Russia as a terrorist state for its actions during the invasion of Ukraine, Congress would. After Alex and BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN first reported that exchange July 20, Pelosi told Andrew the next day that the designation was “long overdue,” adding: “I’ve been advocating it for four months, at least.”
The move also muddies a tricky legal landscape: Congress previously granted the secretary of State the authority to designate a country as a terrorist state. “I’m obligated, the department is obligated to follow the law. Criteria against which we make this determination are defined by Congress. So that’s what we’re looking at,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday.
But, Malinowski told us, “Congress can pass a law to give the executive an authority to do something, but it doesn’t prevent Congress from continuing to legislate on that thing,” adding it’s “vastly preferable” if Blinken made the designation on his own. The lawmakers and their aides, after consulting with the Congressional Research Service and legislative counsel, say they can “circumvent” State with this new legislation.
This effort is the most aggressive yet by lawmakers on the terrorism-label issue.
The Senate passed a non-binding resolution via unanimous consent Wednesday night that doesn’t go as far as the new House bill. The Senate measure, led by Sens. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.), simply calls on Blinken to make the designation. It’s a pressure tactic.
But both senators, who gifted a framed copy of the resolution to VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY in Kyiv earlier this month, touted it today as a significant victory because, at the very least, Blinken knows where the Senate stands on the issue.
“I didn’t think there was an issue under the sun that would get 100 votes. We found…
Read More: House group moves to label Russia as terrorist state- POLITICO