Jordain Carney @ The Hill gives good background on what the delay was about, in

Russia sanctions deal clears key Senate hurdle, June 14, 2:59 p.m.

The Senate easily voted Wednesday to advance a bipartisan agreement to slap new financial penalties on Russia and let Congress weigh in before President Trump can lift sanctions. 

Senators voted 97-2 to attach the deal to an Iran sanctions bill currently being debated on the Senate floor. Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) were the only senators to vote against including new Russia penalties in the legislation.

The Senate is expected to pass the Iran and Russia sanctions bill as soon as this week. Absent an agreement, the Senate will take another procedural vote on the legislation on Thursday morning. 

The vote comes after top Republicans held off for months from backing tougher financial penalties in a bid to give the Trump administration space to try to improve the U.S.-Russia relationship, which soured under the Obama administration. 

But top senators have signaled that talks with Russia over Syria, where Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, were moving too slowly to warrant holding off on new penalties. 

"We must take our own side in this fight. Not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans. It's time to respond to Russia's attack on American democracy with strength, with resolve, with common purpose, and with action," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said ahead of Wednesday's vote [...]