Senate pushes sanctions on nations aiding Snowden [View all]

[ProSense]

Senate pushes sanctions on nations aiding Snowden

BRADLEY KLAPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sanctions against any country offering asylum to Edward Snowden advanced in Congress on Wednesday as the 30-year-old National Security Agency leaker remained in a Moscow airport while Russia weighed a request for him to stay permanently.

The measure introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., demands the State Department coordinate with lawmakers on setting penalties against nations that seek to help Snowden avoid extradition to the United States, where authorities want him prosecuted for revealing details of the government's massive surveillance system. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the proposal unanimously by voice vote as an amendment to next year's $50.6 billion diplomacy and international aid bill.

"I don't know if he's getting a change of clothes. I don't know if he's going to stay in Russia forever. I don't know where he's going to go," Graham said. "But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he's allegedly committed."

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered Snowden asylum since his arrival at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport a month ago, shortly after identifying himself as the source of a series of news reports outlining the NSA's program to monitor Internet and telephone communications. It was believed he would then fly to Cuba. The U.S. then canceled his passport, stranding him, with Russia yet to authorize his request for temporary asylum or allow him to fly on to another destination.

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http://news.yahoo.com/senate-pushes-sanctions-nations-aiding-snowden-151239421.html

Members of the committee:

Democrats
Barbara Mikulski, Maryland, Chair
Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Patty Murray, Washington
Dianne Feinstein, California
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Tim Johnson, South Dakota
Mary Landrieu, Louisiana
Jack Reed, Rhode Island
Mark Pryor, Arkansas
Jon Tester, Montana
Tom Udall, New Mexico
Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire
Jeff Merkley, Oregon
Mark Begich, Alaska
Chris Coons, Delaware

Republicans

Richard Shelby, Alabama, Vice Chair
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
Lamar Alexander, Tennessee
Susan Collins, Maine
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Mark Kirk, Illinois
Dan Coats, Indiana
Roy Blunt, Missouri
Jerry Moran, Kansas
John Hoeven, North Dakota
Mike Johanns, Nebraska
John Boozman, Arkansas

http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about-members.cfm