US House takes up Russia sanctions bill backed by late senator Graham

A general view of the U.S. Capitol on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 - The U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote on Wednesday on a sweeping sanctions bill intended to increase economic pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, nearly 1-1/2 years after the late Senator Lindsey Graham first introduced it.

The bill, now called the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026" to honor the late South Carolina Republican, passed the Senate last month. House passage would send it to the White House, where President Donald Trump plans to sign it into law.

The legislation would target Russia's energy and defense industries, as well as its "shadow fleet" of tankers that evade existing sanctions.

It also would authorize Trump to impose stiff tariffs on China, India and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas, as well as additional sanctions on Iran.

Supporters expect the House to approve the legislation, even though it has faced considerable opposition since Graham and dozens of other senators introduced it in April 2025. It took Trump until July 2026 — days before Graham's sudden death on July 11 — to allow Congress' Republican leaders to schedule a vote on the bill.

Since starting his second term in January 2025, Trump has generally favored keeping control over tariffs and sanctions, a central tool of his foreign policy, rather than working with Congress on legislation.

The Graham act passed the Senate last month by 86-11 with strong bipartisan support, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with lawmakers to urge its passage and took the unusual step of watching an early procedural vote from a seat in the chamber.

Zelenskiy reiterated his support for the bill in an address this week, saying it is "important that it becomes law. I thank everyone around the world who supports this approach and who knows that strength works," he said.

But it has faced opposition from House Democrats, including some of the chamber's senior leaders, who say the bill gives Trump too many new tariff powers that he could use against U.S. allies. They say Trump already has the authority he needs to impose sanctions on Russia, but has chosen not to do so.

They also say the bill makes it too easy for Trump to waive any sanctions.

"White House lawyers drafted the current text to maximize President Trump’s authority to impose new import taxes on the American people, and to minimize any obligation to actually impose new sanctions on Russia or its enablers," Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

Some Republicans also oppose the bill because they view sanctions as unwarranted intervention in the free market and see U.S. support for Ukraine as contrary to a non-interventionist "America First" view of foreign policy.

Some others also are concerned about political blowback against more tariffs and potentially higher consumer prices ahead of November's midterm elections, in which polls show the party struggling to keep control of the House.

Backers of the bill say it sends an essential message to Russia — and the world — that Washington continues to support Ukraine.

"Putin believes he can keep financing this war indefinitely," said Republican Representative Michael McCaul, a lead sponsor of the bill, of the Russian president. "We need to change that calculation and ensure there are consequences for helping him." REUTERS