Cleared by Senate, Russia Sanctions Bill Honoring Lindsey Graham Faces Tougher Fight in House

Winning Senate approval of the Graham Russia sanctions bill was the easy part; getting the bill through the House threatens to be tougher.Only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul, joined 10 Democrats on Friday in voting against the bill, intended to honor the late Senator Lindsey Graham with a package of tariffs and sanctions designed to choke Russia’s economy and force it to come to terms on an end to its war on Ukraine.But some House Democrats are already saying they will challenge the bill when it reaches that chamber after the summer recess over fears that it grants President Trump too much discretionary power to impose tariffs on an uncertain group of countries. Some Republican House members are also reported to be concerned.Two Democrats with influential positions on key House committees — Gregory Meeks and Don Beyer — laid down a marker shortly after the Senate approved the bill in one of its last acts before recessing until September 14.“While we do not doubt the good intentions of our Senate colleagues’ work on the Sanctioning Russia Act, the fundamental concerns we’ve previously stated about this bill have not been addressed with its Senate passage,” the two said in a press release.Arguing that Mr. Trump already has the authority to impose the sort of tariffs laid out in the bill but has refused to do so, they say the bill as written establishes “sweeping new tariff authorities that the president could weaponize with abandon, as he has repeatedly done in the past.”While offering to “negotiate expeditiously” to amend what they see as the bill’s flaws, the two conclude that the text is “unacceptable” as worded by the Senate. “Continued refinement … is imperative before it can be sent to the president’s desk.”There has been little debate over most provisions of the bill, which would impose visa sanctions on certain Russian political and military leaders and financial institutions; impose a 500 percent tariff on imports from Russia; and sanction foreign vessels that transport Russian crude oil, uranium, and coal.But what is giving the Democrats and some Republicans heartburn is a key provision allowing the president at his discretion to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on all goods imported from any country that is among the five largest importers of Russian-origin crude oil and natural gas.The White House has insisted that it needs that discretionary authority in order to bring pressure on Russia’s trading partners without triggering an immediate trade war. But critics point to Mr. Trump’s inconsistent application of tariffs to date and fear the power would be abused.They note also that it is not certain which countries would be affected. China and India would almost certainly be on the list, but beyond that the list of top Russian customers — which is to be updated every 180 days by the United States Trade Representative — could bring in other countries that are friendly to America or strategically sensitive, including Japan, Hungary, Slovakia, and Azerbaijan.“President Trump just last month recklessly imposed new 50% tariffs on our closest trading partner, Canada; there is no reason to believe he would not use the even larger tariffs authorized by this bill in a manner similarly harmful to our alliances and Americans’ wallets,” Representatives Meeks and Beyer say in their press release.Despite the obstacles ahead, the bill’s Senate passage was warmly welcomed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who posted on X that the approval “certainly helps increase pressure” on Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war.“And now, when Putin is making his final bet on ballistic missiles to drag out the war, and when we are searching every nook and cranny so hard for Patriot missiles to protect ourselves, every signal in support of defending lives and bringing the war to an end as soon as possible is extremely important,” he wrote. “Real, strong American pressure and sanctions against Russia are what will help the most.”With or without new American sanctions, Ukraine has been able to bring its own economic pressure on Russia with a series of long-range drone strikes that have shut down more than 30 percent of the country’s petroleum refining capacity.That, according to an analysis by a major commercial shipping and commodities trading technology firm, the Signal Group, is forcing Russia to export fewer expensive refined products and ship more lower-priced crude, which is in high demand because of the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.“Refined product exports out of the Baltic terminals fell apart” after March of this year “while crude exports, above all to India, ran higher,” the group reported. “With refineries damaged, the crude that would normally have been processed at home was pushed onto the water instead.”Under international sanctions imposed in 2023 by the G7 nations, the European Union, and Australia, Russian refined products such as diesel can be sold for up to $100 per barrel, while the sale of raw crude is capped at $60 per barrel.

Cleared by Senate, Russia Sanctions Bill Honoring Lindsey Graham Faces Tougher Fight in House

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