Source: Washington Post
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... s-ukraine/
The White House on Thursday announced a proposal to allow U.S. authorities to liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs and donate the proceeds to Ukraine, seeking what appears to be broad new legal powers to expand America’s financial war on the Kremlin amid bipartisan pressure in Congress.
President Biden will send the new plan to Congress along with a broader request for $33 billion to help the Ukrainians fight Russia’s invasion. Biden’s funding request includes $20 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $8.5 billion in economic assistance and $3 billion in humanitarian aid, among other pots of money, such as $500 million to support production of U.S. crops to address the global food shock caused by the war.
The White House has not revealed the legislative text behind its Russian oligarchs proposal but said the proposal “would improve” the federal government’s ability to send seized funds to Ukraine. Under current law, the United States can typically only freeze — not seize or liquidate — the assets of sanctioned individuals. Civil liberties groups had raised concerned that prior congressional proposals to do so ran afoul of constitutional protections by allowing federal law enforcement to circumvent judicial procedure. It was not immediately clear how the White House would seek to change existing statute without violating those protections.
“This package of proposals will establish new authorities for the forfeiture of property linked to Russian kleptocracy, allow the government to use the proceeds to support Ukraine, and further strengthen related law enforcement tools,” the White House said in a fact sheet. The White House’s requests to Congress will now be subject of intense wrangling on Capitol Hill as lawmakers face a crunch of spending fights in a worsening economy. The administration is also pushing Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in funding to fight the pandemic, with the White House warning of diminishing funds for vaccines and other treatments.