U.S. Congress set to debate Russia trade, human rights bill

PanARMENIAN.Net - A bill that would upgrade U.S. trade relations with Russia while also punishing Russian officials for human rights violations cleared a legislative hurdle on Tuesday, Nov 13, on its way to expected approval in the House of Representatives later this week, according to Reuters.

The House Rules Committee approved a plan to combine legislation to establish "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with Russia with a separate human rights measure strongly opposed by Moscow.

The full House is expected to vote on Thursday on the plan to merge the bills and vote on Friday on the combined package, a House Republican aide said.

Representative Kevin Brady, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee's trade subcommittee, said the trade and human rights package had broad bipartisan support.

"We can't miss any opportunity to create jobs and support our exporters," Brady told the rules panel.

Congress has to approve PNTR to ensure U.S. companies receive all of the market-opening benefits of Russia's entry in WTO.

Doing that requires lawmakers to lift a Cold War-era provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment that tied favorable U.S. tariffs on Russian goods to the rights of Jews in the former Soviet Union to emigrate.

Many U.S. lawmakers are reluctant to remove the Jackson-Vanik amendment without passing new human rights legislation to keep pressure on Moscow.

The new measure is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption lawyer who died in a Russian jail in 2009.