Senate panel to continue work on Russia

The Senate will continue to work on legislation to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea.

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Russia.” 

{mosads}That hearing comes on the heals of both the House and Senate passing different Ukraine aid packages, which include sanctions against Russian officials who threaten the sovereignty of Ukraine.

The House and Senate measures gave Ukraine a $1 billion loan guarantee, more than $100 million on pro-democracy aid and sanctions against some Russians — all top priorities of the Obama administration. 

But senators were already calling for more congressional action to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading more neighboring territory, such as exporting more U.S. natural gas to Europe and Ukraine to reduce their dependency on Russian energy and sanctioning Russian arms dealer Rosoboron.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would gladly revisit the topic of more Russian sanctions in coming weeks but didn’t give any details on which plans he supports.

Details on these and other Senate hearings follow:

Senate Armed Services

– April 1, “U.S. European Command and U.S. Transportation Command”

9:30 a.m., G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building

– April 3, “Posture of the Department of the Army”

9:30 a.m., G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Budget 

– April 1, “Opportunity, Mobility, and Inequality in Today’s Economy”

10 a.m., 608 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet

– April 1, “Reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act”

2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Senate Office Building 

Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance

– April 2, “Examining the GM Recall and NHTSA’s Defect Investigation Process”

10 a.m., 253 Russell Senate Office Building

Senate Finance 

– April 3, “President Obama’s 2014 Trade Policy Agenda”

2 p.m., 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Foreign Relations

– April 3, “Russia”

2 p.m., SVC-217

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

– April 1, “Access to Justice: Ensuring Equal Pay with the Paycheck Fairness Act”

2:30 p.m., 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

– March 31, “Management Matters: Creating a 21st Century Government – Part II, Outside Views”

3 p.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building

– April 2, “Data Breach on the Rise: Protecting Personal Information from Harm”

10 a.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Indian Affairs 

– April 2, “Business Meeting”

2:30 p.m., 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senate Judiciary

– April 1, “Nominations”

10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building

– April 3, “Nominations”

10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building