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House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast, R-Fla., is refusing to greenlight the repeal of Caesar Act sanctions on Syria even as the White House puts its full weight behind it, people familiar with the talks told Semafor.
The US lifted other restrictions on President Ahmed al-Sharaa ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday.
Mast, whose signoff is needed to include a Senate-passed proposal in annual defense legislation, told Semafor he “will not negotiate in the media” but “my concerns with a clean repeal of Caesar sanctions should be obvious to everybody.”
A senior administration official said the Trump administration “supports the full repeal of the Caesar Act,” calling it “key to allow US business and regional states to operate.”
Trump’s special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, has called at least half a dozen lawmakers to advocate for the policy change, a person familiar with the calls told Semafor.
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The legislative effort, which comes as the US seeks to help al-Sharaa open the country to new trade opportunities, was also recently endorsed by the State Department and Mast’s Senate counterpart, Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho. Though Trump moved to lift all sanctions on Syria earlier this year, only Congress can repeal those imposed under the Caesar Act.
“It would be very helpful for the White House to weigh in” more directly “about how important this is to get done,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a key architect of the measure, told Semafor.
Unlike a proposal the House Financial Services Committee advanced in July, the Senate’s approach would repeal the Caesar Act and require a report to Congress. Critics say it could be a mistake to remove all restrictions at once without retaining the ability to easily reimpose them; supporters say that doing so is the only way to give investors the certainty they need.
“I’m willing to take a chance that al-Sharaa and his government are actually a positive step from Assad and his regime, and that without a repeal of the Caesar sanctions, they’re not going to be able to rebuild,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told Semafor. “But I am skeptical, given his history, that this will be without difficulty or controversy, and I intend to closely monitor the situation in Syria.”
Members of the House and Senate are currently discussing the repeal as part of negotiations over which provisions to include in the final National Defense Authorization Act. The ongoing government shutdown means the annual defense bill likely won’t get a vote until December.