Senator Marco Rubio has been a sharp critic of Russia and Putin, and conservatives are lining up behind a bill that would impose sanctions on Russia from meddling in future elections.
If passed, the bill ensures “sanctions on major sectors of the Russian economy, including finance, energy, defense, and metals and mining.” It blacklists all senior Russian political figures or oligarchs that are acknowledged in the Russian sanctions bill that were turned into law in 2017.
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell commented on his support of the bill by saying that “There are some possibilities, Senator Rubio, for example, has got a bill that targets the 2018 election cycle we’re right in now which is, as I understand it, is potential penalties if the Russians do it again. So yeah, there’s a possibility that we may well take up legislation related to this.”
In addition, Senator Rubio detailed that “Congress has already taken various steps when it comes to Russia and its interference in 2016, this will just be one moving forward that hopefully would deter future attacks, which I believe is the real threat here ultimately. It’s not what happened, but what could happen in the future. Hopefully we’ll get to a critical mass and momentum that we can get going on it and get it passed.”