Rand Paul delays Russia trade relations bill, warns of overly broad sanctions power

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., iced the Senate’s swift passage of a bill to halt trade relations with Russia, warning about language in it that could give presidents overly broad sanctioning authority under the Magnitsky Act. 

The Kentucky Republican told Fox News Digital that the "original" version of the "Magnitsky Act allowed sanctions against people who committed specific human rights abuses such as torture, extrajudicial killing."

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Sen. Rand Paul speaks at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 20, 2021 in Washington, D.C.  (Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

"The new Magnitsky Act doesn’t define human rights abuses, and a president who argues abortion is a human right could allow sanctions against a person or country who denies abortion services," Paul continued.

Paul’s concerns stem from certain language in the bill that he warns will give a U.S. president broader authority to sanction a person for human rights abuses under Magnitsky Act.

A spokesperson for Paul told Fox News Digital that the senator is asking for a clarified definition to prevent President Biden or future presidents from being able to sanction anyone across the globe.

Committee chairman Sen. Ron Wyden on Capitol Hill on Feb. 8, 2022 in Washington, D.C. ( Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Senators were looking for a swift passage of the bill stripping Russia of its good trade graces with America before hitting the road back home.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters on Thursday that he always lives "by the theory that nothing in the Senate is easy."

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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., arrives for a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to  examine the federal response to COVID-19 and new emerging variants on Jan. 11, 2022, at Capitol Hill in Washington. (GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"This is an area where the American people strongly believe… that Vladimir Putin has forfeited with his inhuman conduct the right to normal trade relations," Wyden said.

The bill in question swiftly passed the House 424-8 before being stalled in the Senate.