3/23/2018

RUSSIA/SENATE/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Deep inside the 2,232 pages of text that make up the newly passed $1.3 trillion bill to keep the federal government open is a direct message to President Donald Trump: Russia needs to be punished.
The so-called omnibus spending bill, which the Senate passed just after midnight early Friday [3-23-18] morning, includes measures that bar a host of federal agencies from engaging with Russia and sanctions the country for a vast series of grievances.
The bill is the latest attempt by Congress to take a harder stance on Russia than what the White House has been willing, so far, to take. Trump reluctantly signed a bill sanctioning Russia in August after both houses of Congress overwhelmingly passed the measure. The Trump administration blew through two key deadlines in the bill, though, and just this month announced new sanctions against Russia that were meant to be rolled out in January.”

Dan Merica, “Government funding bill includes new measures to punish Russia,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 23, 2018 1:30pm