The United States House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Russia over its continued war in Ukraine. Lawmakers on Wednesday voted to send the sweeping legislation, championed by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to US President Donald Trump’s desk, ending more than a year of delays and obstacles. The final vote was 262 to 159.
It had already passed in the US Senate. The much-anticipated bill would give the president new abilities to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries, like China and India, that import energy supplies from Russia, allowing Washington to further restrict funds sent to Moscow. The measure would also impose sanctions on Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy moving.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for the bill’s passage and made a direct appeal to senators shortly before they passed it last month. Fifty-eight Democrats bucked their party’s leadership and joined with a majority of Republicans to pass it. The Democratic Party has overwhelmingly supported Ukraine in the war.
However, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries opposed the bill, citing new tariff authorities given to the White House that could be used to exploit US allies. Graham, after whom the bill was named following his sudden death in July, had helped negotiate Trump’s support for it. House Speaker Mike Johnson heralded the bill’s passage, saying it places “maximum pressure on … the Russian war machine”, including the country’s President Vladimir Putin.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who wrote the bill with Graham, said he hopes the sanctions will help force Putin to the negotiating table and end the war.
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