Unexpected Death of Lindsey Graham Imperils Senate Republican Agenda

As friends and foes alike confront the unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Senate Republicans are bracing for some unexpected speed bumps in their agenda for the coming weeks. Graham, who passed away late Saturday night, was remembered by colleagues as a man of contradictions — a prolific negotiator of bipartisan deals, a partisan attack dog on behalf of President Trump, one of the nation’s most famous neoconservatives, and an effective force for the domestic Republican agenda on Capitol Hill. Graham represented South Carolina in Congress for more than 30 years, first in the House and later in the U.S. Senate. At the time of his death at the age of 71, he was seeking a fifth term in the upper chamber. In a statement Sunday, Graham’s office — citing the Washington, D.C. medical examiner — announced the preliminary cause of death: an aortic dissection, a tear in the wall of the aorta that is often fatal.On the day of his death, Graham returned to Washington, D.C. from Ukraine where he had been meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The senator told reporters on Friday that he and the White House had come to an agreement on a new Russia sanctions bill which has long been stalled in the Senate. The bill by Graham and his Democratic co-sponsor, Senator Richard Blumenthal, is sure to pass the Senate as soon as it reaches the floor. The original piece of legislation — which would empower the president to levy sanctions against countries and intermediaries buying Russian oil — has 85 co-sponsors. On Sunday, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, said passing the bill as soon as possible would offer “no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the causes he fought for, than to pass this legislation and realize his long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine.”Though the sanctions bill is going to be an easy lift, other pending matters may stall in the wake of his passing. On Wednesday, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department as the new attorney general. Graham was a member of the committee, which now only has 11 GOP members to the Democrats’ 10. Mr. Blanche will need every single Republican vote in order to get out of the committee and onto the Senate floor. Two GOP lawmakers — Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn — have both raised concerns about Mr. Blanche’s nomination. Even if Mr. Blanche can get to the floor, he could still face serious obstacles. With Graham’s death and the absence of Senator Mitch McConnell, who is said to be recuperating from an undisclosed illness, only 51 GOP senators are available to vote, meaning Democrats could sink the Blanche nomination if just two Republicans break with their party. Senator Bill Cassidy, who does not sit on the Judiciary Committee, has also said he has reservations about Mr. Blanche. The nomination may still move forward this week, depending on when the governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, appoints a successor to fill Graham’s Senate seat. What could be more challenging is passing the National Defense Authorization Act this week, which authorizes the Pentagon’s policy agenda and budgetary framework for the year. Democrats are largely opposed to the bill amid the war with Iran, even though the legislation usually passes with massive bipartisan majorities. Graham’s death may mean that Republicans have to pull the bill from the floor temporarily, as it’s currently expected to receive a vote on Monday evening. Before his passing, Graham was also advocating for a third reconciliation bill to authorize an additional $350 billion in military spending outside of the annual appropriations process. As chairman of the Budget Committee, he was taking the lead in kicking off that process before the annual August recess, though the committee will not be able to move forward until a new chairman or chairwoman is installed, which may not happen until next week. The most likely candidate to take over as chairman is Senator Ron Johnson, the most senior Republican member of the committee who does not currently lead another panel. According to Mr. Trump, he and Graham spoke on Saturday evening just a few hours before he went into cardiac arrest. In an interview with “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, the president said that Graham had told him that GOP senators were going to move the SAVE America Act forward soon, presumably through the reconciliation process, which is the path for which Graham had been advocating. Mr. Trump said that Graham’s death now complicates that effort. “This is a big blow to the SAVE America Act, let me tell you,” Mr. Trump said of Graham’s death. Even as there are serious policy and legislative issues which may be thrown into chaos following his death, Graham’s friends — and even some of his enemies — are mourning him as both a serious negotiator across party lines, as well as a fierce fighter for Mr. Trump’s agenda. His stock rose with the new, more pugilistic GOP in late 2018, when he as a member of the Judiciary Committee blew up at his Democratic colleagues for trying to stop Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Justice Kavanaugh had just been accused of sexual assault of an old high school classmate. “To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I have seen in my time in politics,” Graham said at one of the now-justice’s confirmation hearings. He then turned to Democrats on the committee and declared: “You want this seat? I hope you never get it.”“I hope you’re on the Supreme Court, that’s exactly where you should be,” Graham then said to Justice Kavanaugh. “And I hope that the American people will see through this charade.”After the 2018 midterm elections, Graham then took over as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, rapidly pushing through Mr. Trump’s judicial nominees. In 2017 and 2018, the Senate confirmed 85 federal judges to the bench. Under Graham’s leadership in 2019 and 2020, the Senate confirmed a stunning 149 judges. Shortly before the 2020 presidential election, Graham was instrumental in confirming Justice Amy Coney Barrett, despite previously saying that Supreme Court justices should not be confirmed in the lead-up to a presidential election. Though Justice Barrett has disappointed some conservatives, Graham won praise for the pace at which he got her onto the court.On foreign policy, Graham was often seen as out of step with the new “America First” faction of the party. Vice President JD Vance admitted as much in his condolence message for Graham on Sunday. “Early in my Senate tenure, I remember getting into a shouting match with Lindsey about a Ukraine funding bill at lunch and then learning the very next day that he was pushing rail [safety] legislation I really cared about behind the scenes. That was Lindsey Graham,” Mr. Vance wrote on X. “He fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.”Senator John Kennedy had a more blunt way of describing Graham’s foreign policy views. “If you want to stump Lindsey, just ask him to name a country he wouldn’t bomb,” Mr. Kennedy wrote in his memoir. Graham also recently won praise for his role as the leader of funding the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations for the next three years — another issue that won him praise on the more nativist right despite his past support for a pathway to citizenship for migrants. As chairman of the Budget Committee, he was responsible for crafting the budget framework to get that $70 billion legislation passed, which will keep ICE and Border Patrol funded until the end of Mr. Trump’s term.

Unexpected Death of Lindsey Graham Imperils Senate Republican Agenda

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