By a large, bipartisan margin, the US Senate on Friday approved a bill intended to punish Russia and countries that buy its petroleum exports over the invasion of Ukraine, capping a legislative push that was spurred by the death of its champion, the Republican senator Lindsey Graham.
The measure, renamed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia Act in honor of the late senator’s work on the issue, was approved by an 86-11 vote.
The bill would impose new sanctions and visa bans on Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and top military commanders, as well as put tariffs of up to 500% on the country’s exports. It would also allow Donald Trump to impose levies of up to 100% on goods from countries that are the top five importers of Russian oil and gas.
The proposal was a top priority for Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina who spent the final days of his life working to advance it. But the effort had became mired in months of negotiations between the White House and Senate leadership.
After Graham’s sudden death last month at the age of 71 following a trip to Kyiv, party leaders announced an agreement to get the bill through the chamber and honor his legacy as an ally of Ukraine. The Senate took the first step toward advancing it last month, on the day of Graham’s funeral, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, watching from the chamber.
“This bill forces those primary countries keeping Russia’s economy afloat to make a simple yet critical choice – a choice between doing business with America or buying cheap Russian energy,” said Darline Graham, the late senator’s sister who was appointed to his seat after his death.
She added: “This legislation tells Russia’s customers that the United States of America will not sit by while they fund Putin’s assault.”
The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, which may consider once it returns from recess at the end of August.
Some Democrats have warned that the bill would give Trump new tariff powers at a time when he has put such levies at the center of his trade policy.
“This bill gives him so much discretion that Trump can ultimately decide what countries to tariff, or what countries to exempt. And he can modify tariffs at his will,” said Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator who opposed the bill.
“Trump can pick and choose even more countries to tariff every 180 days, but there is no mechanism in this bill for Congress to roll back these tariffs,” he continued.
“If Congress passes this bill, members will be condoning the tariff chaos of the last year and a half – and inviting more.”
As the Senate stepped up its efforts to get the bill passed last month, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, Gregory Meeks, called the proposal “a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families”.
“The sanctions the bill does contain are entirely at Donald Trump’s discretion, and he has made clear repeatedly that he would rather waive sanctions on Russia than impose new ones,” Meeks said.
He encouraged the Senate to consider a compromise over a different bill that the House passed in June over the objections of its Republican leaders to couple new aid to Ukraine with sanctions on Russia. That measure has not been taken up by the Senate.
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