Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

US Senate Committee Ties Jackson-Vanik to Magnitsky Bill

RIA Novosti

The United States Congress finance committee has linked a draft bill on repealing the Jackson-Vanik Amendment and a change in Russia’s status to a free trade nation to the draft “Magnitsky bill,” the committee said on Wednesday.

A Senate vote on the joint law will take place in the next few hours.

“Committee Chairman Baucus released a modified mark of his bill to establish permanent normal trade relations with Russia and remove Russia from the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment,” a source in Washington told RIA Novosti. “The mark includes the Magnitsky Act, as passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

The text of the joint bill also has “small alterations,” on electronic trade, the source added.
The introduction of the combined bill to the committee is a technicality, as Baucus presented his draft bill to the Senate on July 12, and on July 14 a source in the committee administration confirmed to RIA Novosti that it would be this joint bill which would be put to the vote on Wednesday.
Several senators have already expressed strong support for the bill.

The new bill is a response to the demands of a majority of lawmakers for a review of legislation affecting trade and human rights issues, including some laws affecting trade with Russia.