US conglomerates lobby against Russia sanctions

The Senate’s Russia sanctions legislation has generated objections from a wide array of US business industries, which have undertaken a lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill to try to make changes to the bill.

Companies from the oil, energy, banking, aerospace, auto and heavy manufacturing industries have all raised concerns with the details of the sanctions measure, congressional aides tell CNN. While the corporations insist they’re not against new sanctions on Russia and not seeking to kill the bill, they have argued that the legislation has unintended consequences that will ultimately harm their businesses, rather than Russia.

The Russia sanctions measure, which was a deal struck by the Senate banking and foreign relations committee leaders last month that passed the Senate 98-2, establishes new sanctions on several Russian sectors, including energy and defense.

The bill has been stalled in the House over a series of procedural disputes. While Democrats have accused Republicans of working with the White House to scuttle the bill, the behind-the-scenes push from the business community offers another explanation for why the legislation has yet to move in the House.

More than a dozen companies want changes, according to the aides, and their lobbyists and the trade associations representing them have been on Capitol Hill in recent days meeting with congressional staff to try to push for changes to the legislation.

“It passed with such force and such a strong vote in the Senate, it seemed to be insurmountable initially,” said a senior congressional aide who has worked on the bill. “I don’t think they thought through the unintended consequences.”

The companies that have expressed concerns include oil and energy giants like BP, Exxon and General Electric, aerospace leader Boeing and banking conglomerates Citigroup, MasterCard and Visa, according to congressional aides, lobbyists and industry officials.

Manufacturers including Ford, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, International Paper, Caterpillar and Cummins have also raised issues with how the measure could impact their businesses, the sources say.

European countries have also objected to the bill, saying it will disadvantage their energy companies.

Congressional aides pointed out that most of the changes being sought by industry are mostly small and technical, and would not affect the thrust of the Russia sanctions legislation, which the Senate tacked onto an Iranian sanctions bill that’s now pending in the House.

Negotiating changes to the Russia bill

The biggest dispute with the bill between the Senate and the White House is over the provision that gives Congress veto power if the Trump administration tries to ease sanctions on Russia.

House and Senate leaders are currently working through potential changes to the legislation being proposed, and they say they’re open to some of the changes being proposed by industry – so long as they don’t weaken the bill.

Senate foreign relations committee Chairman Bob Corker said Tuesday there were about 10 issues that had been raised, and all but one of them had been worked out.

“We’re not opposed to some of the technical changes and some of the improvements,” Maryland Sen Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate committee, told CNN. “What we’re resisting is anything that would weaken the bill.”

New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, said it was “obvious” that several outside companies were weighing in, adding he was concerned the extended stalling would allow more and more changes to be made.

“That is part of the problem. Once you open up the bill then every company just wants one change, or every group wants one change and before you know it, you don’t really have a bill,” Engel said. “That’s my big fear.”

The measure still has other roadblocks before it can hit the President’s desk. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said he wants to add a House-passed North Korea sanctions bill to the Senate’s Russia and Iran sanctions measure, which would force the Senate to pass the bill for a third time, and Democrats are concerned the measure will get pushed beyond the August congressional recess.

Concerted lobbying effort

The bill passed the Senate over a month ago, but a series of procedural disputes in the House have given companies time to outline their concerns.

Some of the companies have been lobbying Congress themselves, while others are working through trade associations. Nearly all of the companies raising issues are members of the US-Russia Business Council, a US-based trade association involved in the lobbying campaign.

“The competitiveness of US companies in diverse sectors from manufacturing to services would be negatively impacted by the legislation as currently written,” Dan Russell, head of the council, said last week. “The legislation would disadvantage US companies operating in the Russian market relative to their Asian and European competitors.”

CNN has reached out to the companies sources mentioned and they had varied responses in their willingness to talk about the issue.

A GE spokesman told CNN the company was “closely watching over concerns it could place US companies at a significant disadvantage to foreign competitors.”

A Citi spokesman told CNN the company was working with “our trade association partners to encourage Congress to pass a bill that eliminates ambiguity and enable us to ensure clear compliance with the law.”

Ford noted that it was a member of the US-Russia Business Council, but a spokesman said its lobbyists have not attended any meetings on the legislation.

And several companies, including Dow Chemical and Cummins, said only that they did not have a position on the legislation itself. Others declined or did not respond to request for comment.

Host of industry concerns

The objections from oil and energy companies have been the most publicized since the bill passed the Senate last month, particularly over pipelines.

BP, for instance, is concerned that its pipeline project in Azerbaijan to Italy – which it argues would help countries depend less on Russian energy – could get caught up in the new sanctions because of a partnership with a Russian company, according to industry and congressional officials.

The sanctions bill would prohibit US companies from partnering with Russian energy firms on projects “in support of exploration or production for deep water, Arctic offshore or shale projects.”

One congressional aide said there’s been a suggested fix to that section’s legislation by quantifying the percentage of a partnership that would trigger sanctions.

But the issues go well beyond oil and gas.

There are concerns from heavy equipment and aerospace companies over a provision on dealing with state-owned companies and the railway, shipping or metals and mining sectors.

Boeing is worried about the legislation affecting access to Russian titanium used to build its jets, according to industry and congressional officials.

Banking companies like Visa, Citi and MasterCard have their own issues with a provision in the bill that shorten the timeline for financing certain Russian customers to 14 days and 30 days, which the officials say could be as considered routine payments for commercial contracts.

Cardin said the Senate knows the bill isn’t perfect and can be improved, but that doesn’t mean they will agree to all of the changes industry is proposing.

“I’m sure there’s some suggestions that industry wants, but I haven’t really been exposed to that. If it weakens the bill I’m opposed to that,” he said.

Congressional review key question

One of the stickiest issues may be over congressional review of easing Russia sanctions. The legislation includes language that states congressional review covers licenses to do business with Russia otherwise prohibited that have traditionally been issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The White House has called for a national security waiver to be part of the sanctions bill, and industry officials point to the licensing section as the key area that needs such a waiver — raising concerns that Congress, rather than the Treasury office, would be in charge of signing off on licenses to do business with Russia.

But that appears to be one area where the Senate does not want to budge and add a waiver.

“We’re not wavering on a national security waiver,” Corker said.

This story has been edited.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.