News: Senate Democrats and Republicans spent the weekend negotiating potential changes to a House-passed bill that would impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court over its targeting of Israeli officials, according to multiple sources involved in the talks.
And U.S. tech companies are now getting involved behind the scenes amid fears that they’d be the target of crippling sanctions under the GOP-drafted bill, which could pass the Senate with Democratic help.
The bill, which will get an initial procedural vote Tuesday, was the subject of a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting on Friday as the party wrestles with how to address GOP-led proposals that divide their party.
Senate Democrats sent the GOP a proposal over the weekend, and Republicans, led by Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), countered on Sunday night, we’re told. As we scooped on Friday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, gave a presentation during the caucus meeting outlining her concerns with the bill as written.
The negotiations center on Shaheen’s argument that the bill is so far-reaching that it would impose mandatory sanctions even on American technology companies.
Many Big Tech companies provide the ICC with cybersecurity support to counter Russian hackers looking to undermine investigations into Moscow’s alleged war crimes in Ukraine. These companies also help the ICC identify online footprints of accused war criminals.
The politics: All 53 Republicans are expected to back the ICC legislation, and GOP negotiators believe there are at least seven Democratic senators who would vote to advance the bill on Tuesday.
Indeed, there are several Democrats who may feel pressured to support moving forward with the bill due in part to political pressure. That’s why senior Democrats are engaging with Republicans to try to limit what they see as potentially disastrous consequences of the legislation as written.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has long taken a hands-off approach with his vulnerable incumbents. But Democrats tell us they want a more cohesive game plan from Democratic leaders after a hot-button immigration bill divided the party and gave President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans an early legislative win.
In that case, a group of moderate and politically vulnerable Democrats provided the votes to push the Laken Riley Act over the finish line. That same group will be decisive for the ICC sanctions bill.
“I don’t think that we had a cohesive Democratic position on that,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told us about the Laken Riley Act. Bennet said that Senate Democrats need “to understand how we lost a second presidential election to Donald Trump.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) encouraged Democrats to ignore “shiny objects” and focus on reconciliation — what he referred to as the upcoming “Republican tax cut for billionaires.” Murphy has been advocating for the party to embrace populism in the aftermath of the 2024 election.
It’s an approach shared by many Democrats eager to shift the focus from the GOP’s floor agenda to the cost of living crisis.
“It’s so clear that none of the things that they brought up right out of their new majority are the issues that quoters care most about — voters want people to be bringing down costs,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said.
