Bid to keep U.S. sanctions on Russia's Rusal fails in Senate

In a victory for President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected legislation to keep sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, including aluminum firm Rusal (0486.HK).

Senators voted 57-42 to end debate on the measure, as 11 of Trump’s fellow Republicans broke from party leaders to join Democrats in favor of the resolution, amid questions about Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That result fell short of the 60 votes necessary to advance to a final passage vote in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority.

A similar measure will be brought up for a vote on Thursday in the House of Representatives, where Democrats control a majority of seats. But its long-term fate was uncertain. To keep the administration from lifting the sanctions, the measure must pass both the House and Senate and muster the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override an expected Trump veto. Many members of Congress have been questioning the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision in December to ease sanctions imposed in April on the core businesses of Deripaska - Rusal, its parent, En+ (ENPLq.L), and power firm EuroSibEnergo - watering down the toughest penalties imposed on Russian entities since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Hours after Wednesday’s vote, the Treasury extended by one week its deadline for Deripaska to divest his holdings in Rusal, En+ and EuroSibEnergo to Jan. 28. The restructurings are a key condition for lifting the sanctions on the companies. Deripaska, an influential businessman close to Putin, himself would remain subject to U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration pushed Republican lawmakers not to support the resolution introduced by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, which would have prevented the administration from lifting the sanctions.

“Forty-two Republican senators chose today to stand with Vladimir Putin,” Schumer said in a statement. “I’m extremely disappointed that many of my Republican colleagues are too afraid of breaking with President Trump to stand up to a thug.” Senate aides said Treasury officials had approached senators and staff repeatedly in recent days to argue that it was appropriate to lift the sanctions because Deripaska had agreed to cut back his controlling stakes.

>>4786094

Sauce:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-sanctions/bid-to-keep-u-s-sanctions-on-russias-rusal-fails-in-senate-idUSKCN1PA2JB?il=0

With federal lawyers furloughed, court delays suit over U.S. shutdown

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit filed by a federal employees’ union over the current U.S. government shutdown cannot move forward because the Justice Department lawyers who defend the government have been ordered not to come to work, a judge said on Tuesday. U.S. Court of Claims Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith said she appreciated the irony of the situation but “neither the court nor the attorneys at the Department of Justice has the authority to change the present circumstances,” she wrote.

The American Federation of Government Employee, the largest federal employee union, sued the government in December, arguing that requiring border patrol and transportation security agents, air traffic controllers, and other employees to work without pay violates federal wage law. As it has in other cases since the shutdown began on Dec. 22, the Justice Department on Tuesday asked the court to stay the case because its lawyers are not allowed to work during the shutdown, even on a voluntary basis, with a few rare exceptions. The union and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

About one-quarter of the federal government shut down over President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which Democrats oppose. Some 800,000 federal workers at agencies including the departments of Homeland Security and Transportation have been furloughed or are working without pay. AFGE is one of several unions that have sued. On Tuesday, a judge in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. denied motions by two unions for temporary orders forcing the government to resume paying employees, on grounds courts do not have the power to order other branches of government to pass legislation.

In past shutdowns, federal employees have been granted back pay once the government reopened. Judges have also in certain cases ordered the government to pay damages.

The case is Tarovisky v. USA, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 1:19-cv-0004.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shutdown-lawsuit/with-federal-lawyers-furloughed-court-delays-suit-over-u-s-shutdown-idUSKCN1PA30Y?il=0

Congressional Democrats move to stop U.S. Census citizenship question

Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday were moving ahead with legislation to prevent the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, following a court decision this week blocking inclusion of such information. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told reporters that she is re-introducing her bill, which was ignored by Republicans in 2017-2018 when they controlled the House of Representatives. With the Democrats takeover of the House this year and the panel that oversees the decennial census, Maloney said she hoped that her “Census IDEA Act” would advance early in 2019. Under Maloney’s legislation, the Commerce Department for the 2020 census and beyond could not insert any major new provisions or questions without first researching and testing them for at least three years. The changes would also have to be submitted to Congress for review.

On Tuesday, a federal judge invalidated the Trump administration’s move to include a citizenship question in the 2020 population count. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling, with the case thought likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. “Every person must be counted,” Maloney said. She added that she was gathering support from House members for a letter that would be sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, urging him to not seek an appeal of the court ruling.

Also on Wednesday, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings told reporters that Ross will testify before his panel in early March. That hearing is expected to touch on several issues, including planning for the 2020 census. Democrats and civil rights groups accused the administration of inserting a citizenship question onto the survey, for the first time since 1950, to discourage immigrants and Latinos from participating in the census. The census, required by the U.S. Constitution, provides the basis for states’ representation in the House and their share of federal funds for an array of programs.

Democrats fear that the citizenship question would result in census data that over the next decade would mainly benefit Republicans in many congressional districts by undercounting minorities and immigrants. Democratic Representative Jesus “Chuy” Carcia told reporters the citizenship question would likely discourage many “mixed status” families whose members have varying immigration or citizenship status from answering census questions. Ross argued that the government needed citizenship data to help enforce election law.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-census-congress/congressional-democrats-move-to-stop-u-s-census-citizenship-question-idUSKCN1PA2Z5

>>4786352

I believe that and then some. I recall the previous census taker..asking me about an address that didn't exist on my street..a few weeks later I received a phone call asking if I was sure it didn't exist..made me wonder how many more fake addresses there are!

>>4786522

Agreed