Congress on track to approve major Russia sanctions bill that could hand new tariff powers to Trump

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Congress is poised to deliver President Donald Trump one final win ahead of the midterms — a major Russia sanctions bill that critics warn will empower him to impose sweeping new tariffs that could reverberate across the economy.

The House on Wednesday is expected to give final approval to the Russia sanctions bill named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. It would then go to Trump’s desk for his signature.

Most GOP lawmakers support the bill. But privately, nearly a dozen Republicans had been lobbying party leaders in recent days to take out new tariff powers included in the bill — alarmed that it could further hike prices just ahead of the midterms, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team, however, rebuffed those proposed changes, those people said.

Under the new tariff authorities in the legislation, the Trump administration could impose levies of up to 100% on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India — which critics say could deliver a massive shock to the economy.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would determine the final tariff level. But that has not allayed concerns from some Democrats who have spoken out publicly – and some Republicans who have voiced fears privately – who believe the bill would ultimately empower Trump on tariffs, despite that potential guardrail.

Supporters of the bill on both sides of the aisle, however, argue that the tariff authority is limited and carefully tailored and that fears that the president would end up with more power on trade matters are unfounded.

The bill was first introduced in April 2025, and — over the course of more than a year of painstaking negotiations — Graham led the charge to get the White House on board. His last public appearance, only one day before he died, was in Ukraine. During the visit, while standing in front of tanks on the streets of Kyiv, he announced that Trump would back the bill.

For many Democrats, it will be a difficult vote: Most in the party were eager to support the package, which places mandatory sanctions on top figures in the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian oligarchs, state-owned enterprises and foreign companies supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.

But it caused deep tensions within the party, with prominent Ukraine allies like senior Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland delivering an impassioned defense on a bill that his own leadership had voiced concerns over. A day earlier, a pair of centrist Democrats even flouted their party leaders to help Republicans bring the bill to the floor when GOP votes fell short.

The Senate passed the bill in a broad bipartisan vote in August.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill in the Senate, told reporters this week that he was “very hopeful that the House will recognize that we have a profound responsibility.”

“There’s an urgency here. In my last meeting with President Zelensky, he was insistent that we should pass the Russia sanctions bill,” he added.

But many Democrats in the House opposed the bill. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced during debate on the bill that he would not support the measure, citing the additional tariff authority that his colleagues have objected to including in the package.

“Why in the world would this Congress give this president additional authority to visit that kind of economic harm on the American people?” he asked.

A trio of prominent Democrats — who all sit atop committees relating to foreign affairs or trade — warned the bill would “do more harm than good,”

“This bill would dramatically expand presidential tariff authorities while failing to mandate sanctions on Russia, both of which are unacceptable,” Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia said.

Meeks is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Neal serves as the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Beyer is the senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

“These flaws would raise Americans’ prices while undermining support for Ukraine in the long term,” they said.

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国会即将为唐纳德·特朗普总统在中期选举前带来最后的胜利——一项针对俄罗斯的重大制裁法案。批评人士警告称，该法案将赋予他权力，可以实施可能对整个经济产生连锁反应的全面新关税。

预计众议院将于周三最终批准以已故参议员林赛·格雷厄姆命名的俄罗斯制裁法案。之后，该法案将送交特朗普总统签署生效。

大多数共和党议员支持这项法案。但据两位知情人士透露，近几天来，近十名共和党议员私下里一直在游说党内领导人，要求删除法案中包含的新关税授权条款——他们担心这些条款可能会在中期选举前进一步推高物价。

然而，据这些人说，众议院议长迈克·约翰逊及其领导团队拒绝了这些提议的修改。

根据该法案中的新关税授权，特朗普政府可以对购买俄罗斯石油和天然气的国家（包括中国和印度）征收高达 100% 的关税——批评人士称，这可能会给经济带来巨大冲击。

美国贸易代表杰米森·格里尔将决定最终的关税水平。但这并未消除一些公开表达担忧的民主党人和一些私下表达担忧的共和党人的疑虑，他们认为，尽管存在这种潜在的保障措施，但该法案最终仍会赋予特朗普更大的关税权力。

然而，两党支持者都认为，关税权力是有限的，并且是经过精心设计的，担心总统最终会在贸易问题上拥有更大的权力是没有根据的。

该法案最初于2025年4月提出，经过一年多艰苦卓绝的谈判，格雷厄姆一直积极游说白宫支持该法案。他最后一次公开露面是在去世前一天，地点是乌克兰。访问期间，他站在基辅街头的坦克前宣布，特朗普将支持该法案。

对于许多民主党人来说，这将是一次艰难的投票：该党的大多数成员都渴望支持这项方案，该方案对俄罗斯政府高层人物（包括总统弗拉基米尔·普京）以及俄罗斯寡头、国有企业和支持俄罗斯国防工业基地的外国公司实施强制性制裁。

但这在党内引发了深刻的紧张局势，包括马里兰州资深众议员斯坦尼·霍耶在内的乌克兰盟友，就一项曾被其领导层表达过担忧的法案，发表了慷慨激昂的辩护。就在一天前，两名中间派民主党人甚至不顾党内领导的反对，在共和党票数不足的情况下，帮助共和党人将该法案提交至众议院表决。

参议院于8月以广泛的两党投票通过了该法案。

参议院该法案的主要民主党共同提案人理查德·布卢门撒尔参议员本周告诉记者，他“非常希望众议院能够认识到我们肩负着重大的责任”。

“情况很紧急。在我上次与泽连斯基总统的会面中，他坚持我们应该通过对俄罗斯的制裁法案，”他补充道。

但众议院许多民主党人反对这项法案。众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯在法案辩论期间宣布，他不会支持这项法案，理由是他的同事们反对在法案中加入额外的关税授权条款。

他问道：“国会究竟为何要赋予这位总统额外的权力，让他给美国人民带来这种经济损害？”

三位知名的民主党人——他们都担任外交事务或贸易相关委员会的主席——警告说，该法案“弊大于利”。

“这项法案将大幅扩大总统的关税权力，却未能强制对俄罗斯实施制裁，这两点都是不可接受的，”纽约州众议员格雷戈里·米克斯、马萨诸塞州众议员理查德·尼尔和弗吉尼亚州众议员唐·拜尔表示。

米克斯是众议院外交事务委员会的首席民主党议员，尼尔是众议院筹款委员会的资深成员，拜尔是国会联合经济委员会的资深众议院民主党议员。

他们说：“这些缺陷会推高美国人的物价，同时从长远来看会削弱对乌克兰的支持。”