It’s taken well over a year of stops, starts, promises and derailments, but the Senate has at last advanced a bone-crushing package of sanctions against Russia, capping off one of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s biggest fights.
The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act sailed through the Senate on another colossal bipartisan vote and is now headed to the House. It has the backing of President Donald Trump, too.
It comes after personal lobbying from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, who, hours after Graham’s memorial service in Washington, D.C., pleaded with lawmakers to put a check on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine, and Putin is watching from Moscow," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on the Senate floor. "I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching, too."
The bill focuses on kneecapping Putin’s war machine by targeting Moscow’s top financial driver: oil and gas sales.
It also extends sanction authority against Iran that hampers funding to the country’s weapons and energy sectors as the administration and negotiators abroad seek to find a long-lasting peace agreement for the war in the Middle East.
There are also targeted sanctions against Putin, Russian officials and Russian military leaders, up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports, tariffs of up to 100% on the top five countries buying Russian energy, like China and India, and gives Trump flexibility for when to turn off some aspects of the sanctions.
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The tariff authority, however, threatened one last derailment of the package.
Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., initially held up the package over the issue and offered an amendment to solve the problem.
Paul, who has staunchly opposed Trump’s tariff strategy since he retook office, argued that slapping tariffs on superpowers working with Russia, like China, would only cause them to cozy up.
"These tariffs threaten to undermine America's strategic position in the world," Paul said. "Some naively think that the tariffs will get China to distance themselves from Russia, but it might be the opposite."
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"Recent history suggests that they will instead push Russia and China together," he continued. "China is not going to get this 100% tariff and say, ‘Oh, we're sorry, we're no longer going to cooperate with Russia.’"
Then came Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who proved to be the last hurdle.
But after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Thursday, Warnock backed down after receiving a commitment that Trump’s tariff authority was indeed limited to just the top five countries purchasing oil and gas exports from Russia.
"We should not have to choose between putting a check on Putin's aggression and putting a check on this president's tariff regime," Warnock said. "That is a false choice, and it is one that I am not willing to accept."
