After the Trump administration missed an October 1st deadline by more than three weeks and did not take action until pushed, lawmakers and the media are watching to see what happens Monday.
The Treasury Department is required to begin imposing sanctions against entities doing business with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors as well as to produce a hotly anticipated list of oligarchs maintaining close ties to Putin. Implementing the law robustly would risk harming the relationship Trump has tried to cultivate with Putin — and any delay would mean snubbing Congress’ authority.
Congress approved sanctions against Russia for election meddling with overwhelming, veto-proof margins, but the president was reluctant to sign the bill in August to impose them.
Politico reports lawmakers are hopeful, but not overwhelmingly optimistic, that Trump will be more responsive this time around.
“Am I confident [that Trump will meet the deadline]"? asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “I’m hopeful.”
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Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, also said he holds out hope for speedy compliance from the administration.
“But so far,” Coons complained to reporters, “the president has not used tools the Senate gave him, 98 to 2, to send a clear and unmistakable sign to Vladimir Putin and Russia” about the consequences for meddling in other countries’ elections.
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The sanctions due Monday under the bill that Trump signed in August can be delayed or waived, but any waiver would have to come with a certification to lawmakers that Russia has made major progress in cutting back on cyber-meddling.
On Friday, four senior Democrats publicly reminded the president of Monday's deadline and the importance of punishing Russia:
The peril that Russian “actions pose to our democratic institutions and those of our allies is growing in intensity and urgency,” [Senators Ben] Cardin (D-MD) and [Steny] Hoyer (D-MD) warned in a letter also signed by the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, New York Rep. Eliot Engel.
“You have a constitutional responsibility to defend those institutions,” they told Trump.
Also Friday, the Treasury department did follow through on one aspect of the law on time, but it did not pertain to U.S. election meddling:
Treasury took one key step forward on Friday by broadening sanctions against Russia imposed in the wake of its annexation of Crimea, hitting 21 individuals and nine entities. Those penalties, first imposed before the passage of last year's sanctions bill, were then codified into law by it.
Read more: Deadline looms for Trump and Russia sanctions (Politico)
Corker: Trump administration moving ahead on delayed Russia sanctions (Politico)