A bipartisan bill to impose sanctions on Syria was derailed by the White House, which pressured Democratic leadership to delay introducing the bill to the full House of Representatives, Josh Rogin of The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Members of Congress and their aides had been preparing to introduce the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act to the floor of the House sometime this week. The bill, which was named for “Caesar,” a Syrian defector who smuggled out of the country thousands of photographs documenting the Bashar al-Assad regime’s torture of civilians, had more than 50 cosponsors (mostly Democrats) and was expected to pass easily. But at the end of last week, when legislators were preparing this week’s schedule, legislative affairs staffers from the White House contacted the House leadership of both parties and asked that they delay the legislation.
Leaders of both parties had previously agreed to suspend normal rules in order to move the legislation forward. But under those conditions, bills require the support of two-thirds of the House. When the Democratic leadership backed out, it made passage significantly more difficult.
“After President Obama’s disastrous handling of Syria, he’s now adding insult to injury by pressuring House Democrats to kill a bipartisan bill aimed at cleaning up his mess,” AshLee Strong, press secretary to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R – Wis.) told Rogin. “We hope members will have a chance to vote on this important legislation soon.”
Rep. Ed Royce (R – Calif.), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a co-author of the bill, also blamed the administration for the delay. “I’m dismayed that the administration seems to be throwing up roadblocks to our bipartisan effort to cut off the resources Assad uses to annihilate his own people, and I will continue working to find a path forward for this important legislation,” he said.
Rogin explained who the bill targeted:
The bill would impose new sanctions on the Assad regime and its supporters, spur investigations meant to fuel the prosecution of war crimes in Syria, and encourage a process to find a negotiated solution to the crisis. Specifically, it would require the president to impose new sanctions on any entity that does business with or finances the Syrian government or its military or intelligence services, which includes Russia and Iran. It would also require sanctions on any entity that does business with several Syrian government-controlled industries, including the airline, telecommunications and energy sectors.
While the Obama administration claimed that House Democratic leadership decided on its own not to move ahead with the legislation, congressional sources disputed that. Several officials told Rogin that the administration feared that the sanctions bill would derail the Syrian ceasefire agreement that was agreed to last week, and congressional staffers suggested that the administration opposes putting pressure on Assad.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D – N.Y.), another co-author of the bill and the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that he agreed with delaying the bill in order to give the ceasefire time to work. But Engel, who is skeptical of the ceasefire, also said that “things can change quickly, and if they do, Congress should act quickly … If that happens, I will work day and night to move this bill through the House.”
Syrian opposition activist Mouaz Moustafa, who helped craft the legislation, said that the delay will deny justice to those who have already suffered under Assad and may undermine efforts to prevent similar atrocities. “This bipartisan measure pursues nonviolent means of compelling the regime to stop murdering civilians and the administration shuts it down in what can only be described as a subversion of the democratic process,” Moustafa said. “Do the victims of war crimes not at least deserve a vote?”
Rogin observed that it was understandable for Democrats to temporarily delay introducing the bill. But now, he wrote, “with the cease-fire in tatters and Assad resuming his indiscriminate barrel bombing of civilians in Aleppo, there’s no more excuse.” He called on Democrats to go ahead with the bill and force the White House to present an alternative if it has one.
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