U.S. Senate hopes to pass Russia sanctions bill in July

The Hill reported the information.

Thune said he sees a chance for the Russia sanctions bill to be considered before Congress goes on recess in August.

“I hope that we can get it on the floor before the August recess. We are working with the administration, with the House to try and get it in a form where it’s ready,” Thune told reporters Wednesday.

“Obviously, there’s a tremendous amount of bipartisan support here in the Senate. I think that’s shared in the House of Representatives, at least I hope that it is. The White House is very engaged in trying to get it in a form that we can transact and [get] across the floor of the Senate,” he added. 

As a reminder, this is a bill initiated by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal. It provides for the imposition of sanctions against Russia and secondary sanctions against buyers of Russian energy resources, uranium and other products. In particular, it provides for the imposition of 500% tariffs on U.S. imports of countries that buy sanctioned Russian goods.

Lindsey Graham said the bill would leave Trump room to maneuver on which measures would ultimately be implemented.

“The real focus of the bill is to hit the customers of Putin. China and India purchase approximately 70 percent of Russia’s oil and gas, as well as other petroleum products. I’ve always believed the way this war ends is when China goes to Putin and says, “Enough already, you’re hurting us now,” he said.

Graham hopes the bill could be brought to a vote as early as next week. The senator had previously announced that new sanctions against Russia should be approved in July and said the bill already has Trump’s backing. He reiterated his call after the largest missile strike on Kyiv to date.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that he is open to bringing the bill to the floor.

“I don’t know any details yet, but I know there’s an interest in that in the House side, so we’ll have to see,” he said.

• French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot says that the EU is preparing to impose the toughest sanctions against Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.