U.S. Senators Vow No 'Faustian Bargain' With Russia, Pledge To Target Putin 'Harder' | RFERL - Dec. 30, 2016 |

Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) said Congress would pursue in 2017 more sanctions against Russia, targeting the energy and banking sectors, as well as "Putin and his inner circle."

"We're going to do two things: We're going after Putin harder with tougher sanctions and we're going to be more helpful to our friends, like here in Ukraine," Graham said.
McCain, Graham, and Amy Klobuchar (Democrat-Minnesota) said there is strong support in Congress to provide Ukraine with "lethal defensive weapons" to help Kyiv in its fight against Russia-backed separatists in the east.

"PROTECTING EUROPE'S ENERGY SECURITY" AND "COUNTERING AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES THROUGH SANCTIONS ACT": A BRIEF SURVEY OF U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON NORD STREAM 2

The U.S. Congress set sanctions against Nord Stream 2 in two different acts: the 2017 Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act and the 2019 Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act. This comment will now describe and assess legality under the principle of prescriptive jurisdiction of the sanctions they edict.

A. Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions (CAATS) Act

In 2017, Congress passed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, 115 P.L. 44 (codified in scattered sec- tions of 22 U.S.C.). This sweeping act, which targets not only Russia but also Iran and North Korea, notably contains sanctions provisions against anyone who invests in "energy export pipelines" or "sells, leases, or provides to the Russian Federation, for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines, goods, services, technology, information or support." Those sanctions are limited to projects initiated on or after August 2, 2017 and the U.S. Bureau of Energy Resources has recently changed its guidelines to specifically target Nord Stream 2 and Turkstream (both were exempted under previous guidelines). Under 22 U.S.C. § 9526, the President may impose "five or more" sanctions out of a list of eleven sanctions enu- merated under 22 U.S.C. § 9529.

Biden, Sanctions and Republican Foreign Policy