Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act of 2017
Latest action. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-161.
Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act of 2017
This bill requires the President to: (1) submit to Congress a list of financial institutions that are providing financial or banking support to the government of North Korea; (2) impose specified financial and asset blocking sanctions on an institution that has knowingly engaged in such conduct, and (3) impose specified civil penalties upon a U.S. institution based upon whether it has taken steps to prevent a recurrence of such conduct.
The President: (1) may suspend, renew, or terminate sanctions subject to prior congressional notification and review; and (2) may not take an action if Congress enacts a joint resolution of disapproval of such action.
The President shall prohibit, with specified exceptions, transactions involving the manufacture, sale, purchase, transfer, import, or export of certain North Korean goods, services, or technology (covered property) by a U.S. person or such transactions that are conducted in the United States.
The President may impose specified sanctions with respect to: (1) persons providing specialized financial messaging services to North Korean financial institutions or sanctioned persons, and (2) governments that fail to take specified actions against North Korean financial institutions or persons designated under a United Nations Security Council resolution.
A state or local government may divest its assets from, or prohibit investment of its assets in, any person engaging in investment activities involving North Korean covered property valued at more than $10,000.
The bill expresses the sense of Congress with respect to: (1) blocking of property of North Korean officials, (2) divestiture of certain employee benefit plan funds involving North Korean covered property, and (3) the Kaesong Industrial Complex and North Korean nuclear disarmament.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 19, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on January 30, 2018: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-161.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced it on July 19, 2017, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 9 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 19, 2017, 3340 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3145 days ago, on January 30, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers