The US House on Nov. 15 easily passed tough new Syria sanctions that would box in both President Barack Obama and his successor, Donald Trump.

The voice vote comes despite discreet pressure from the Obama administration to make it easier for the president to waive the sanctions. A Democratic congressional aide told Al-Monitor that bill writers declined to do so, in part because of concerns that Trump might use that authority to avoid enforcing the law.

"I am sensitive to the fact that there have to be some waivers, because presidents have to have a certain kind of authority," bill sponsor Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., told Al-Monitor. "But I am unhappy with waivers all the time that you can drive a Mack truck through. I think at some point Congress has to say what it feels and, as a co-equal branch of government, have as much of a say as the executive."

One Republican aide told Al-Monitor that Democrats actually signed off on the bill's waiver language before the election, when Hillary Clinton was the runaway favorite to win. And, indeed, Engel has long been pushing for tougher penalties on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with his bill first clearing the House Foreign Affairs Committee in July.