"I want to protect the prerogatives of the minority in the House but weighing the equities, what was more important was passing the Russian-Iran sanctions bill. So we are on board to just proceed,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. | Getty Russia sanctions bill hits fresh roadblocks in the House

The Senate's bipartisan Russia sanctions bill ran into more trouble in the House on Friday, raising fresh questions about whether and when the chamber will be able to agree on forcing President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Moscow.

The Russia bill's biggest Friday hiccup came from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who called for the addition of a North Korea sanctions bill that the Senate has yet to act on, to the frustration of his GOP. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also appeared to back down from Democratic demands that have held up quick movement of the Senate-passed bill.


House Republicans and Democrats have sparred for days over who is to blame for the delay of the Senate-passed bill that sanctions Russia and Iran. One of the sticking points has been language, proposed by the House GOP and accepted unanimously by the Senate, that would eliminate House Democrats’ power to force a vote blocking Trump from easing sanctions on Russia. McCarthy's North Korea request is a new hurdle.

Pelosi suggested at a press conference Friday that she would drop House Democrats’ insistence on restoring their power to force an anti-Trump vote.

“I want to protect the prerogatives of the minority in the House, but weighing the equities, what was more important was passing the Russian-Iran sanctions bill, " Pelosi said. "So we are on board to just proceed."A

Playbook PM Sign up for our must-read newsletter on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

But parties involved on both sides say no deal has been reached and talks are continuing.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), during a Friday colloquy with McCarthy, gave no indication that Democrats are backing off their demand that the GOP restore their procedural power. Rep. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a Friday interview taped for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" that he interpreted Pelosi's comments as a Democratic willingness to relent only if the Senate-passed sanctions bill could move ahead with minimal or no changes.

In fact, House Republicans are weighing their own potentially significant alterations to the sanctions bill, which the Senate passed 98-2, in the face of quiet lobbying from the White House as well as K Street. Pelosi's comments risk undercutting her party's position in talks that have given Democrats a powerful bludgeon against the House GOP — which has been delaying the bill, a clawback of power from Trump, despite the growing scandal regarding Russian assistance to the Trump campaign.

"I don't think the Republicans in the House are serious about passing this bill," Engel told reporters Friday.

"From what I'm hearing, it's this change then that change," on the Republican end, Engel added.

The latest proposed change, suggested by McCarthy on the House floor Friday, was adding a North Korea sanctions package, which the House passed in May, to the legislation punishing Russia and Iran.

"I do believe that ... there's an addition that should be added, and that is North Korea. That [bill] came out of here 419-1,” McCarthy said on the floor Friday afternoon.

McCarthy added that "it would be a very strong statement for all of America to get" a sanctions bill affecting Russia, Iran, and North Korea to the White House.

Hoyer responded that he shared that view. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who played a leading role in negotiating the upper chamber's Russia sanctions deal and has expressed interest in a North Korea travel ban, said he is open to McCarthy's call for adding North Korea penalties to the sanctions bill.

“There is no question that we need to apply more pressure to North Korea,” Corker said in a statement. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) "and I have discussed the desire of some House members to add North Korea provisions to the Senate’s legislation to sanction Iran and Russia," Corker added, "and we would be more than glad to take a close look at it if this is the path they choose.”

Asked for a response to Pelosi's remarks, AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), noted McCarthy and Hoyer’s conversation on the floor and added, "We continue to have productive conversations with our Democratic colleagues to find a bipartisan solution."

Rachael Bade and Diamond Naga Siu contributed to this report.