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A bipartisan group of senators announced Friday they reached an agreement with the White House on language for a Russia sanctions bill stalled in Congress for more than a year.
“We are proud to announce that we have reached an agreement with the Trump Administration to move our updated Russia sanctions legislation forward,” Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in the statement. “We are very pleased with this significant progress and expect to roll out the legislation very soon.”
“As Russia intensifies its slaughter of civilians, it is imperative that the legislative and executive branches work together to create tools to exact a heavy price on those who buy Russian oil and natural gas, fueling the Putin war machine,” they added.
It’s not clear what changes lawmakers and the White House agreed to that put them on the same page. A push to move the bill forward in December was blocked by Democrats over opposition to granting the president tariff authorities amid a pending Supreme Court case.
The Sanctioning Russia Act was first introduced in 2025 by Graham and Blumenthal, with key provisions imposing 500 percent tariffs on countries purchasing Russian-origin petroleum and uranium and adding a 500 percent tariff on Russian goods imported into the U.S. — although this is minimal.
The legislation garnered a veto-proof majority of support in the Senate, but was put on ice by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to give Trump space to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Pressure to bring the bill to the floor ebbed and flowed as Trump whipsawed between claims that progress was being made with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and frustration over the Kremlin’s refusal to halt the war.
Sponsors of the Russia sanctions bill tried to move the text forward in December amid reports that Trump’s negotiators were pushing a 28-point peace plan to end the war that was criticized for being lopsided in Moscow’s favor — but Democrats opposed the moves.
House Democrats in June succeeded in passing legislation to authorize additional military support for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia — garnering six Republican and one independent vote to push it over the finish line. But the bill was understood as stalled in the Senate, especially as the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill was still being tweaked.
The renewed effort on the Graham-Blumenthal Russia sanctions bill aims to reinforce bipartisan support for Ukraine and comes at a moment where Trump appears on the side of Kyiv, seizing the initiative in the fight against Russia as Putin struggles under military and economic pressure.
Trump, sitting next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week on the sidelines of the NATO summit, said the U.S. would permit Ukraine to co-produce critical air defense interceptors and said Washington would sign a drone deal with Kyiv.
The meeting represented a major thaw in relations between Trump and Zelensky following a rock-bottom moment when the two lashed out at each other during an Oval Office meeting in February 2025.
“We’ve actually developed a good relationship,” Trump said next to Zelensky. “It’s hard to believe, right? From the Oval Office to now, I think we’ve developed a very good relationship.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Jeanne Shaheen John Thune Lindsey Graham Richard Blumenthal Roger Wicker Vladimir Putin Volodymyr ZelenskyCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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