Senate Panel Might Take Up Venezuela Sanctions After Break, Lawmaker Says

While Congress began a long recess this week without passing Venezuela legislation, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere said lawmakers might address the matter when they reconvene in mid-November.

“You might see [action] in Foreign Relations soon after we return,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Export Compliance Daily. “Knowing that [Venezuela’s presidential] inauguration isn’t till January, we’re doing everything we can to put some effective pressure to promote the inauguration of the actual person who won the election.”

Although Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez is widely believed to have won the country’s July 28 presidential election, incumbent President Nicolas Maduro has refused to concede that he lost, and he has used mass arrests and violence to crack down on those demanding a peaceful transfer of power.

Kaine and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., announced last week that they plan to introduce the Support the Venezuelan Electorate’s Rejection of Dictatorship and Aspiration for Democracy (VERDAD) Act, which would sanction regime officials for stifling political dissent and trying to “steal” the election. The legislation also calls for coordinating sanctions with partners in the Western Hemisphere and the European Union, and it would codify several sanctions-related executive orders.

Kaine said his proposal could be combined with the Venezuela Emergency Relief, Democracy Assistance, and Development (VERDAD) Reauthorization Act, which would reauthorize sanctions on people involved in undermining democracy and human rights in Venezuela. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., have put forth the VERDAD Reauthorization Act, which the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved in March.

“We’re trying to harmonize them all together,” Kaine said. “There’s an effort underway to do that.”

In the House, lawmakers have been pushing for House floor votes on several Venezuela sanctions measures, including the VERDAD Reauthorization Act (see 2409050019).

Besides pursing legislation, Kaine said he and other senators are also working with diplomats to try to bring about the desired outcome in Venezuela.