Oligarch Assets Seizure Bill Passes House
A bill that would authorize the administration to confiscate any property valued at more than $5 million from a Russian oligarch who has already been sanctioned for involvement in the Ukraine invasion passed the House 417-8.
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However, the bill does not require that such seizures happen; instead, it is a non-binding "sense of Congress" that it would like them to happen and asks the administration to produce a report 60 days after passage about how it could be done within the bounds of the Constitution. It also asks the administration to expand sanctions on members of Russia's parliament, and if it chooses not to, to explain to the Foreign Affairs Committee why it is not doing so.
Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said at the time he introduced the bill in March, “It would be fitting and right to use the wealth that supported Putin’s regime to rebuild the country Putin is destroying. The Ukrainian people should see the boats, planes, and villas of Putin’s enablers being seized and sold, and they should know that the proceeds will help their country and cause.”
Co-sponsor Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said at the time: “Those who have accumulated great wealth and influence under Vladimir Putin and off the backs of the Russian people should not be able to hide their assets in the Unites States while Putin commits atrocities against the Ukrainian people. Putin has chosen mafia rule, and the global community must respond accordingly."