A big bipartisan U.S. Senate majority voted to pass a package of economic and political sanctions against Russia on Friday, but I think I’m with Northern Virginia Congressman Don Beyer on this one.
“We welcome our Senate colleagues’ urgent effort to support Ukraine and punish Russia for its continued illegal war, but this bill would not achieve those goals. Instead, it would allow President Trump to dodge holding Russia accountable and impose yet more tariffs in his destructive trade wars, leaving Americans to foot the bill,” said Beyer, in a joint statement with Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The sanctions bill, named for Lindsey Graham, the late South Carolina Republican senator, includes sanctions on Russian political leaders and Russian oligarchs and their families, which, great.
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It allows Trump to institute targeted tariffs on products from countries that buy Russian oil and gas.
The bill also grants a demand from Trump to extend his sanctioning authority to limit funding toward Iran’s weapons and energy sectors.
This is all good on paper, but then, we’re talking about giving Donald Trump more power here.
“President Trump just last month recklessly imposed new 50 percent tariffs on our closest trading partner, Canada; there is no reason to believe he would not use the even larger tariffs authorized by this bill in a manner similarly harmful to our alliances and Americans’ wallets,” Beyer and Meeks said in their joint statement.
Flip side, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was a cosponsor of the Senate bill, which still needs approval from the U.S. House before it can go to Trump for final approval.
In a statement, Kaine said “(n)ow is the perfect time for the United States to bring down the full force of comprehensive sanctions on Russia, and I’m proud that the Senate took an important step forward today by passing this legislation.”
“I was in Ukraine last month for the second time since Putin’s brutal full-scale invasion, and it was clear that the Ukrainian people’s resilience and patriotism are unwavering, and they are demonstrating real expertise on the battlefield. At the same time, Russians are becoming increasingly exhausted by Putin’s war, which his own finance officials have told him he can’t afford,” Kaine said.
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Chris Graham
