http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/house-sends-north-korea-sanctions-bill-to-obama/article/2583141House sends North Korea sanctions bill to Obama
By Susan Ferrechio (@susanferrechio) • 2/12/16 11:51 AM
The House on Friday cleared legislation that would force the Obama administration to step up sanctions against North Korea over its recent weapons testing.
Lawmakers approved the bill by a wide bipartisan margin of 408-2, following the Senate's unanimous approval this week.
The bill would require the Obama administration to sanction individuals who aid in the development of North Korea's nuclear program. The legislation also would impose mandatory sanctions on cybercriminals as well as officials involved in censorship and human rights abuses.
"North Korea," said House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., "is a human rights house of horrors."
The bill makes exceptions allowing for America to continue to provide humanitarian aid. The bill now heads to President Obama's desk.
It comes on the heels of testimony Tuesday from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea had restarted a plutonium reactor and is vying to develop a long-range nuclear missile.
Republicans have treated the sanctions bill as a rebuke of Obama's foreign policy, which they say has lacked a tough stance against nations such as North Korea, which claimed last month to have detonated a hydrogen bomb.
Both parties agree the United States should step up efforts to rebuke North Korea. The nation has escaped any serious punishment despite four nuclear tests in the past decade and the government's claim last week that it launched a long-range missile.
"I would caution all members about leveling political charges when it comes to North Korea," Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said. "We all know North Korea is a problem, but let's not kid ourselves. This problem has been growing under many administrations in both parties and congresses of both parties."
