US senators rejected Ted Cruz’s bill on sanctions against Nord Stream 2, the initiative was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz, it assumes new sanctions against the pipeline within 15 days. However, the bill did not get enough votes in the Senate
Ted Cruz
Senator Ted Cruz’s bill introducing new sanctions against “Nord Stream-2” did not get enough votes in the US Senate, according to Reuters.
To pass the vote in the upper house, the bill needed to get 60 votes. So far, 94 out of 100 senators have voted, including 53 in favor of the document. This means that he will no longer be able to get 60 votes, even if the remaining ones vote for.
Republican Senator Cruz introduced the sanctions bill in December. In exchange for consideration, he promised to stop blocking the approval of candidates for 32 government positions. As a result, an agreement was reached according to which the Senate had to consider the senator’s initiative by January 14.
The document proposed by Cruz suggests the introduction of restrictions against “Nord Stream-2” within 15 days after entry into force.
Back in early January, Republicans were confident that the bill would pass a vote in the Senate, Politico wrote about this, citing its own sources. However, later members of the Senate and the presidential administration began to speak out against him.
So, Politico reported that senators from the Democratic Party, who were previously going to support Cruz’s initiative, changed their minds. They said they would not support the bill in order not to interfere with President Joe Biden in negotiations with Russia. The senators came to the conclusion that the new sanctions could undermine the efforts of the head of state to create a unified position with Europe.
Next, the State Department said they did not support Cruz’s bill, as it could undermine unity among US allies. “Unfortunately, this amendment is not, in our opinion, a sincere attempt to resist further Russian aggression or to protect Ukraine. We are concerned that, if passed, this law will only undermine the unity of our European allies at a crucial moment when we will need to present a united front in response to Russian threats to Ukraine,” said department spokesman Ned Price.
On Wednesday, on the eve of the Senate vote, Emily Horn, a representative of the US National Security Council, made a similar statement, saying that new sanctions against Nord Stream 2 would not help to resist Russian aggression or protect Ukraine. And on Thursday, the White House spoke out against them.
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