House to Vote on Graham Russia-Iran Sanctions Bill — SkimNews
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- U.S. House Rules Committee is scheduled to take up the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 on Monday (September 14), after Republican leadership had dropped it from the agenda before an early mid-term recess and then revived it as an emergency measure.
- The Senate passed the bill by an overwhelming majority last month; if the House clears it, the bill would empower Trump to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil and gas, and extend existing sanctions on Iran.
- The bill also seeks to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners including India, a provision that has become the focal point of Democratic opposition.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic Congressmen Gregory Meeks, Don Beyer and Richard Neal said the legislation would give Trump "expansive and risky new tariff authorities" while failing to mandate Russia sanctions, "raising Americans' prices while undermining support for Ukraine in the long term."
- Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat) broke with fellow Democrats, praising the revived vote and saying the bill "hits the Kremlin's coffers hard" and should "force Putin to the negotiating table."
Why it matters: The bill exposes a rare partisan crack on Russia policy: House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they support Ukraine but refuse to back sanctions legislation that simultaneously hands Trump new authority to tariff trading partners like India — arguing the tariff expansion is unacceptable even within a broader sanctions package.
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