The Senate on Friday passed a bill aimed at punishing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, a long-delayed effort that senators raced to finish in recent weeks as a tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The bill, which would also levy penalties on Iran, was passed in a bipartisan 86-11 vote, overcoming Democratic angst over provisions that would expand the president’s tariff authorities.
“Today we say to the people of Ukraine, you are not alone. And we say to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, you will not conquer Ukraine,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., one of the bill’s chief backers, said on the Senate floor Friday.
After recalling the trips to Ukraine he took with Graham that spurred the two of them to write the bill, Blumenthal said the bill, which has been named after Graham, “carries on the work that he believed was so important.”
“It will impose scorching sanctions on the Russia war machine and the shadow fleet that sustains it,” Blumenthal said. “It will prevent critical resources from flowing to the Kremlin’s coffers.”
