The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to pass a bill increasing sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, establishing veto-proof majorities for the measure that also allows Congress to block President Trump from easing sanctions against Moscow. The 98-to-2 vote sets up the president with a pivotal choice: veto the bill knowing that lawmakers are prepared to override, as his communications chief Anthony Scaramucci suggested this morning on CNN that he might, or sign the legislation that binds his hands when it comes to altering sanctions policy against Moscow, a provision his administration lobbied hard against.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were the only senators to vote against the bill. The two were also the only votes against an earlier version of the legislation that the Senate passed last month, also by a vote of 98 to 2, that focused on just Russia and Iran. White House incoming press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say on Thursday whether the president would veto the bill."We're going to wait and see what that final legislation looks like and make a decision at that point," she said.