WASHINGTON — The Home voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to strip Russia of its preferential commerce standing with america, shifting to additional penalize the nation’s financial system in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The lopsided 424-to-8 vote got here after President Biden introduced final week that america and its European allies would take new steps to isolate Russia from the worldwide buying and selling system. The laws would enable america to impose greater tariffs on Russian items. All the lawmakers who opposed the measure had been Republicans.
The invoice is the newest in a sequence of measures that lawmakers have accepted to assist Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion. Others embrace a ban on Russian fuel and oil merchandise and, maybe extra considerably, a $13.6 billion army and humanitarian help bundle.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the bulk chief, stated he would work to maneuver the Home-passed invoice by means of the Senate “shortly.”
The Home vote got here a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine delivered a searing speech to Congress by way of video hyperlink by which he urged lawmakers to do extra to assist his nation and penalize Russia. His deal with, in addition to a wrenching video he confirmed of Russian-inflicted carnage in his nation, hung closely over the Home flooring on Thursday as lawmakers debated the commerce invoice.
Mr. Zelensky “confirmed us absolutely the horrors that Russia is inflicting on the Ukrainian individuals in full view of the world,” stated Consultant Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the Methods and Means Committee. “And he pleaded for us to do extra. With the laws that stands earlier than us at this hour, we intend to reply his name.”
Ana Swanson contributed reporting.