The revised text of a Russia sanctions bill that the late Sen. Lindsey Graham long sought to advance broadens the groups that would be subject to mandatory sanctions, but also gives the president broad authority to apply waivers.
On a visit to Kyiv in the days preceding his sudden death, Graham said that the White House had agreed to the latest version of the bill, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). A White House official on Monday confirmed the president was on board.
“It took months of bipartisan negotiations, very difficult, sometimes heated,” Blumenthal said Tuesday. “But we are very, very gratified that President Trump is now supporting it,” he added.
The new text, seen by POLITICO, would apply mandatory sanctions not only on Russia’s leadership and energy sector, but on secondary helpers of the Russian defense industrial base and so-called shadow fleet. It also narrows the president’s tariff authority over global buyers of Russian energy compared with the previous version.
