CRUCIAL Act of 2021

Subject – IR

Context – GOP Senators support CAATSA waiver for India

Concept –

Three Republican Senators have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act FY2022 — an annual defence budget Bill — to make it harder for the executive branch of the U.S. government to impose sanctions on members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) for buying Russian arms.
The move comes as India is expected to take delivery of the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Moscow — possibly this month or next, potentially attracting sanctions under U.S. domestic law, the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017.
The latest legislation, called the Circumspectly Reducing Unintended Consequences 15 Impairing Alliances and Leadership (CRUCIAL) Act of 2021, requires the U.S. President to certify to “appropriate congressional committees” that a U.S. Quad partner country (India, Australia, Japan) is not cooperating on “security matters critical to the United States strategic interests,” prior to applying CAATSA sanctions on entities from that country.
Effectively, this would mean the administration would have to say the Quad is dysfunctional, before imposing invoking CAATSA sanctions on its members.
If the amendment goes through, this certification requirement will be in effect for 10 years from the date of its passage.