The House committee chairmen with oversight of the Russia sanctions legislation approved by the Senate said Wednesday that they want to move it expeditiously.
The bill, which last week passed the Senate 98-2 and also includes new sanctions against Iran, has hit a procedural stumbling block.
The House parliamentarian had flagged a “blue slip” violation, known as the constitutional requirement that bills raising revenue originate in the lower chamber, in the legislation.
But House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) expressed confidence the House would take up the bill.
The Senate could either re-do the sanctions bill without the problematic provisions or simply insert the legislative text into one of any unrelated revenue measures already sent over by the House.
Alternatively, the House could establish a new legislative vehicle to accommodate the revenue-origination requirement.
“One way or the other, we have to do it very quickly,” Royce said as he came out of a House GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning.
In any case, Royce and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) appeared to believe the issue could be easily resolved.
Brady expressed a preference that the Senate fix the bill and re-send it to the House, but said the House could also figure out a way on its own.
“I think there’s desire for urgency on this,” Brady said. “I think the preferred way would be for the Senate to take it back up, fix the issue, the constitutional issue.”
Royce said he is waiting to hear back from his Senate counterpart, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), for a decision on how to proceed.
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House GOP chairmen want urgent action on Russia sanctions https://t.co/7yzT2vlCGM pic.twitter.com/cpHZYtRCyO
— The Hill (@thehill) June 21, 2017
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