Senate passes symbolic Russia rebuke as Ukraine threat looms

The Senate on Thursday approved a symbolic resolution that calls on President Joe Biden to “impose significant costs” on Russia if it invades Ukraine in the coming days.

The voice vote came after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) threatened to block it if the measure’s sponsors, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), did not agree to amend it.

“We believe that it should say, ‘nothing in this resolution is to be construed as an authorization for war,’ and ‘nothing in this resolution is to be construed as authorizing introduction of troops into Ukraine,’” Paul told reporters.

The resolution itself is nonbinding and makes no mention of authorizing war or the deployment of U.S. troops. The non-interventionist Paul has advocated for a more restrained approach to the Russia-Ukraine crisis and has sought to limit U.S. involvement in any military maneuvers involving Russia.

The senators ultimately struck an agreement late Thursday allowing the resolution to pass unanimously before the Senate began a week-long recess.

The proposal introduced Thursday by a half-dozen senior members of both parties came after a bigger set of cross-aisle negotiators failed to reach an agreement on a comprehensive bill that would have boosted Ukraine’s defenses and sanctioned Russia if it reinvades its western neighbor. It also arrives as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to speak with the U.N. Security Council Thursday morning amid "evidence on the ground" showing that Russia is nearing an invasion.

Failure to pass even a non-binding resolution expressing the Senate’s support for Ukraine would have exacerbated the frustration senators have felt for weeks over the chamber’s inability to come together on a robust sanctions bill.

“It’s important that Congress speaks with one voice,” Portman said in a brief interview on Wednesday. “I would hope every member would allow us to have a voice vote on it and get this done.”

Among other provisions, the resolution “denounces the Russian military buildup of over 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, including in Belarus,” decrying President Vladimir Putin's government as “threatening the security of bordering NATO allies ... contrary to established international norms.”

Hurdles aside, the effort represented a last resort for the Senate after the top Democrat and Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee were unable to strike a deal on a broader sanctions package. After a month of negotiations, Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and his GOP counterpart Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho were unable to bridge key divisions over the scope and types of sanctions to be imposed in the event of a Russian invasion.

Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement Thursday that she asked Blinken to speak with the Security Council on his way to the Munich Security Conference “to signal our intense commitment to diplomacy, to offer and emphasize the path toward de-escalation, and to make it clear to the world that we are doing everything — everything — we can to prevent a war.”

Senators from both parties predicted, though, that they would quickly come together on a major sanctions bill if Russia invades Ukraine, noting that the more recent effort by Menendez and Risch was intended as a deterrent to an incursion. Both Foreign Relations leaders signed onto the Shaheen-Portman resolution, as have Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

“I think if Moscow is reading this that there’s some kind of a disagreement here as to what happens if there’s an invasion, they’re making a horrible mistake,” Risch said. “Both parties are saying the same thing about wanting a result. It’s just what action gets to that result. And I think that resolves pretty easily and quickly if there is an invasion.”

After the latest round of negotiations broke down, senators argued that Biden, who has vowed to impose severe punishments on Moscow if it invades, already has the authority to levy many of the sanctions Congress had outlined. Republicans preferred immediate sanctions on Russian interests, while Democrats pushed for them to come only after a possible invasion.

Despite their disagreements over the precise sanctions regime, senators had already rallied around a few key provisions as the foundation for a bipartisan package designed to slap at Russia, including emergency lethal aid and efforts to boost Ukraine’s cybersecurity defenses.

Shaheen and Portman said on Wednesday that those latter provisions could find their way into a longer-term government spending measure that is still getting hashed out by both parties.

“It’s not a bad conclusion if we end up with a resolution making a strong statement, and actually get the funding done through the appropriations process,” Portman said.

Much of that funding, most notably the lethal military assistance, has already been authorized as part of previous legislation such as the annual defense policy bill.