Senate to move on Russia sanctions bill named after Sen. Lindsey Graham
Graham had worked to carefully negotiate the package with the White House.
A bipartisan group of senators announced an agreement to move forward on a highly anticipated Russia and Iran sanctions bill Tuesday morning, honoring the late Sen. Lindsey Graham in the process.
The bill is named after Graham, who was one of the Republican conferences most outspoken Ukraine allies, and who had been working to carefully negotiate the package with the White House in the days leading up to his sudden and unexpected death earlier this month.
The Senate is expected to move forward with a procedural vote on Graham's namesake bill -- the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 -- Tuesday evening following Graham's funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to be on Capitol Hill for a meeting that all senators are invited to attend just ahead of the vote.
Zelenskyy is in Washington to attend Graham's funeral service. He also met with President Donald Trump as the Ukraine's war with Russia drags on.
Zelenskyy may be in the Capitol building as the vote on the bill, which aims to punish Russia for its aggression against his country, is taking place.
The package would impose primary and secondary sanctions on Russia and other countries that support Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions target Russian political officials and oligarchs, banks and financial institutions, and the Russian shadow fleet, according to a release from the bipartisan group.
The legislation also allows the president to impose tariffs, but limits the scope of those tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas and the top five countries that aid Russia's energy sanctions evasion.
The bill also extends previously approved sanctions on Iran that were set to expire this year until 2031, restricting funding for Iran's energy and weapons sector.
"We are proud to announce an agreement on legislation to stop purchasers of Russian oil and gas from fueling Putin's war machine and to continue restricting the Iranian regime's ability to support terrorism and build its nuclear program," Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Darline Graham, Katie Britt, Jeanne Shaheen, Jim Risch and Roger Wicker wrote in a joint statement. "There is no greater way to honor Senator Graham’s legacy than to move forward with this bipartisan agreement, and we look forward to today’s vote."
The bill has more than 60 cosponsors and is therefore expected to easily pass the Senate. Tuesday night's vote is procedural, but sets the bill up for final passage some time later this week.
The House is out of town until Aug. 31, so the bill will likely not head to Trump's desk until the House acts on it after the scheduled recess. A White House official said that the bill meets the president's call to include sanctions on the Iranian regime.
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