The House of Representatives approved on Wednesday a sweeping sanctions bill to tighten the economic pressure on Russia and fulfill a last wish of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham two months after his sudden death.
The legislation passed in a 262 – 159 vote.
The “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026” was named in honor of the South Carolina senator who died at age 71 following a trip to Ukraine where he championed the legislation. It passed the Senate last month. President Trump is expected to sign it into law.
The legislation targets Russian and Iran — hitting those that support the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine and curbing funding for Iranian energy and weapons programs.
Despite the fast Senate approval, the House has been reluctant to take it up for months and there were questions as to whether it would be voted on before the midterm election.
There were questions as to whether enough House Republicans would support the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) could not lose many of his lawmakers given the strong Democratic opposition. Democrats fret the bill would give President Trump too much power on tariffs.
“President Trump has abused every presidential tariff authority, every single one, that Congress has given often to target our allies,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) argued during the House debate. “The bill has a loophole that would allow him to define basically any country as a facilitator evading Russian sanctions.”
But the legislation’s supporters argued it was necessary to help end the war in Ukraine.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who led the fight for passage in the House, said the bill “will force” Russian President Vladimir Putin to “the negotiating table.”
“Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act,” he said on the House floor, adding that the bill will keep Putin’s ambitions in check, preventing him from marching into more of Eastern Europe.
“Lindsey Graham once said this bill would be his great achievement,” McCaul noted. “I can think of no better way … to honor his life and his legacy than by passing these tough sanctions.”
The legislation allows Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on any country that buys Russian energy, which would include China and India.
It picked up momentum after the death of Graham, a longtime critic of Russia and its president Vladimir Putin.
Last month the legislation passed the Senate 86-11 with strong bipartisan support, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers to urge its passage and watched an early procedural vote from a seat in the chamber.
