According to the article, in a last-minute push in late August, Mullin succeeded in getting Senate Majority Leader John Thune to strip the bill from the managers package for the National Defense Authorization Act, two congressional sources confirmed to The Hill.
According to The Hill, Senator Rand Paul (Republican Party) also opposes the bill.
“There’s a lot of people on the record supporting this legislation,” said one congressional source, who requested anonymity to discuss legislative deliberations.
It was almost included in the NDAA last year. It has passed the House and it was passed out of committee this year. So the fact that one senator could kill it is quite disappointing.
Mullin’s stance has also raised eyebrows because it marks a major reversal from positions he held five years ago”, reads the article.
In 2020, Mullin criticized the ruling Georgian Dream party as cozying up to “American hostile rivals and enemies” and said it was making it difficult and dangerous for American companies to operate in the country.
In a short interview with The Hill this week, Mullin cited a “better relationship” with Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who is also chair of Georgian Dream, as one of the reasons for opposing the Megobari act, warning the legislation would harm U.S. ties with Tbilisi.
“I understand kind of where they’re [Georgian Dream] trying to get to. I also understand the direct influence that Russia is having and kind of stirring up disdain, I guess, inside the government,” Mullin said.
“And so I want to be able to work with them before we throw sanctions on them. I want to work with them to see how they can, you know, have true sovereignty, to get away from the overbearing influence of Russia.”
In his 2020 op-ed, Mullin highlighted two U.S. companies facing challenges in Georgia. He pointed to the Conti Group, which in 2019 pulled out of a $600 million investment in a Black Sea port because it could not secure approval from the government. And he raised concerns that Frontera Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas company, was being targeted with stifling regulations.
Mullin’s optimism toward Georgia’s leaders is perplexing to democracy activists and congressional sources, who argue the country is clearly moving in the wrong direction, with increased corruption, democratic backsliding and deepening ties with adversaries over the past five years.
“That a senator is going this far to defend the pro-China government in Georgia is puzzling and very swamp-like behavior. This is a regime that is constantly defending China and Iran and just today was insulting President Trump,” one Republican aide said.
The Megobari Act’s supporters in the Senate are pushing for a pathway to passage, despite Mullin and Paul’s objections. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told The Hill on Tuesday that the Megobari Act could be added as an amendment to the NDAA despite earlier being stripped from the bill. Shaheen, in a statement to The Hill, said she will continue to work with Republicans to ensure its final passage in the Senate.
“There continues to be strong, bipartisan and bicameral support for the Megobari Act in response to the deteriorating political situation in Georgia and widespread agreement that actors responsible for undermining Georgia’s democracy, Euro-Atlantic aspirations and our longstanding bilateral relationship should be held accountable,” she said.
