House Passes Lindsey Graham’s Neocon Russia Sanctions Bill

The House of Representatives sent legislation placing strict sanctions on Russia to President Donald Trump’s desk in honor of the late Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 would target Russian leadership, banks and its oil “shadow fleet” by requiring Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the top five importers of Russian oil and gas and up to 500% on goods imported from Russia. Although it passed the Senate in a 86-11 vote on Aug. 7, the bill did not receive the same level of enthusiasm in the House.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 262 to 159.

Speaker Mike Johnson previously told The Washington Examiner that “there should be bipartisan consensus” around the bill. He indicated he would only move the bill forward if the White House supported it, but stated there were “pockets of concern” within the Republican caucus.

“There should be bipartisan consensus,” Johnson said. “It should be a suspension-level vote where we could put it on the floor and have more than two-thirds support it. But I need to make sure the Democrats will be with us on that, and we got to build consensus around it.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Republicans were not in full agreement on the bill when it was still under discussion.

“We’re working through it. We want to bring it, but not sure exactly when yet that decision has not been made,” Scalise said. “We’ve got a few folks that we’ll be talking to still about it.”

Neocon senators such as Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Armed Services chair Roger Wicker and Foreign Relations Committee chair Jim Risch supported the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also supported the bill, calling it a “great tribute” to Graham.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others in his party argued the bill would give Trump new tariff authorities. Democratic leadership, including Foreign Affairs ranking member Gregory Meeks and House and Ways Committee ranking member Richard Neal, argued the bill would cause “more harm than good” by handing Trump new powers.