This archive report was first published on 18 December 2019.
December 18, 2019
As the House of Representatives debates whether to impeach President Trump for undermining Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a bipartisan bill to counter Kremlin aggression.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the bill's lead author, introduced it in February, before he became a key defender of Mr. Trump. The bill, S. 482, has bipartisan support, but its fate is uncertain due to the changing politics of the moment.
Republicans remain committed to countering Russia, but they argue that President Trump's actions do not warrant impeachment. They want to punish Moscow without impugning the president.
Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, said, 'This was something everyone was for, until they weren’t.' He noted that the country has come to this moment because of the president's decision to trade Ukraine's security for a 'domestic political errand.'
At a Senate hearing, Democrats and Republicans professed their devotion to standing up to Russia. Senator Marco Rubio declared, 'The president is not a Russian agent.' He also stated that while he had doubts about some parts of the legislation, he would vote for it because he had to fight 'information warfare.'
The bill passed 17 to 5, but a vote in the full Senate would not come until next year, presumably after an impeachment trial.
The juxtaposition of the unified denunciation of Russia and the divisions over how to deal with a president who was undermining the pushback against Moscow was striking.
