US Congress and Policy of Sanctions

Abstract

U.S. Congress plays an increasing role in the American policy of economic sanctions. Although the President and the Administration retain a significant power in national foreign policy, including the use of sanctions, Congress affects political agenda, promotes its own design of sanctions and keeps an eye on their implementation and further upgrade. Emergence of sanctions in the pubic laws, initiated and passed by Congress, usually makes their revocation hardly possible and keeps them for a long term. Such an institutional role of Congress raises a number of research questions. What are the key target priorities for Congress in terms of sanctions policy? Do these priorities overlap with the ones of the Administration? Are there any partisan splits on sanctions or sanctions policy is rather a matter of bipartisan consensus? What instruments of sanctions does Congress prefer? What share of bills finally turns into public laws and what is a connection of bills success to partisan affiliation or priorities concerned? To deal with these questions, the article reflects an analysis of 539 Congressional bills on sanctions, introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2019-2023. The database of bills includes such variables as targets of sanctions, political triggers of proposed restrictions, list of measures proposed, partisan affiliation of sponsors and cosponsors, etc. Results demonstrate the overlapping of priorities of Congress and Administration, though Congress attempts to constrain Administration on a number of issues, such as Iranian Nuclear Deal. There are specific partisan priorities. Republicans are proactive on sanctioning China, Iran and Afghanistan. Democrats are exploring new areas of sanctions use, such as climate, ecology, minorities’ rights, etc. Still, most of the bills have a bipartisan composition of sponsors and cosponsors. Most of successful bills, which turned into laws, are of bipartisan nature. Congressional bills imply the use of universal instruments of targeted sanctions such as asset blocking, visa bans or trade restrictions. However, country-specific measures, like suspension of particular military cooperation programs, are also on the radars of Congress. China and Russia a key priorities for Congress in terms of sanctions.