Congress passes sweeping US sanctions bill targeting Russia

The bill marks the first time in more than two years the US Congress has passed legislation assisting Ukraine.

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.

“The manner in which this bill has been written doesn’t require the president of the United States to impose sanctions on Russia,” Jeffries said on the House floor Wednesday. “In fact, there are so many loopholes written into the bill, I believe, that it’s very unlikely that the sanctions relief contemplated in the legislation will ever see the light of day.”

The bill marks the first time in more than two years the US Congress has passed legislation supporting Ukraine. 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.

“For too long, Putin has bankrolled this devastating war with money and resources from countries willing to look the other way, and today, that ends,” Johnson said in a post on social media. “This bill sends a powerful message of American unity and gives the Administration every tool in the toolbox to help bring this war to a just end, and we are proud to send it to the President’s desk.”

After the vote, a group of Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate celebrated the vote at a rare bipartisan news conference.

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.

“To Vladimir Putin – we have your number,” Blumenthal said. “And to Ukraine – you are not alone.”

Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.