House Foreign Affairs Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who introduced the bill in the House, argued that passing the measure ahead of the winter months is crucial to ramping up economic pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his allies before Russia can launch strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.
“This will hit them where it really hurts and provide the leverage needed to bring Putin to the negotiating table,” McCaul said. “It also puts pressure on China to force Putin to come to the table, because they will suffer from these tariffs as well.”
Meanwhile, Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed skepticism about the legislation, calling it “deeply flawed” and arguing it grants the White House sweeping tariff powers without actually forcing new penalties on Moscow.
“It gives President Trump broad new tariff powers and allows him to waive the very sanctions it supposedly imposes – sanctions he could have imposed today but has not done so for the past 19 months,” Meeks said.
The White House pressured House Republican leadership to advance the legislation, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Graham-Blumenthal Russia sanctions bill
A bill imposing new sanctions on Russia was introduced in the U.S. Senate in early April 2025. It called for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continued buying Russian oil and other raw materials. Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal co-sponsored the legislation.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2025 that the Trump administration was quietly lobbying Graham to soften the bill's provisions. Politico similarly predicted at the time that the bill would undergo significant dilution before a final vote.
At his final press conference in Kyiv on July 10, 2026, Senator Graham announced that a breakthrough agreement had been finalized with the White House on a revised version of the sanctions package.
The U.S. Senate held its first procedural vote on the bill on July 28, with 86 senators voting in favor of advancing the legislation.
The Senate later approved the bill on August 7 by an overwhelming margin of 86-11.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on September 16 in a 262-159 vote.
The bill significantly increases sanctions pressure on Russia, empowering the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that continue to buy Russian energy exports.
The legislation also expands restrictions on Russia’s military leadership, financial and energy sectors, foreign suppliers, and “shadow fleet” vessels, while tightening export controls on goods Moscow could use to manufacture weapons.