Senators Push for Action on Russia Sanctions Bill
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said June 10 that Congress should take up a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill to spur Moscow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine.
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“What we’re seeing is continued intransigence on the part of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, an unwillingness to come to the table, an interest in continuing the war, and we need to do something to change that dynamic,” Shaheen said at the Atlantic Council. “This sanctions bill has the potential to do that, to say to Russia and Putin that we are going to put as much pressure on you as we can possibly can.”
Shaheen said that passing the legislation would also send a message to European allies that they should continue their own Russia sanctions. She also said the bill might need to be fine-tuned to address concerns, such as about the practicality of a 500% tariff on imported goods from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products.
Separately, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters he hopes the Senate will consider the bill "within the next few days, perhaps next week. I do not know the schedule of the leadership on that, but it is my hope that this sanctions bill will be passed. I think the House of Representatives will pass it by enormous bipartisan numbers also, and I think [President Donald Trump] will sign it."
Shaheen's and Wicker's comments came eight days after Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called for the Senate to vote on the bill (see 2506020060). Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced the legislation in April (see 2504020003), and about 80 senators have endorsed it (see 2505220052). Trump has resisted such proposals, saying in late May that new Russia sanctions could hurt peace talks (see 2505290049).
The Graham-Blumenthal bill would sanction a wide range of actors, including senior Russian officials, supporters of the Russian government, and financial institutions and other entities affiliated with that government. Those that support Russia's energy production or uranium trade also would be sanctioned.