It is with some frustration to realize that details of the Ukraine-Russia war remain anonymous to many members of the House of Representatives; especially those who have a Committee responsibility to be fully aware and informed on foreign policy details.
It is not that those details are obscure or complicated since Russia’ s Special Military Operation began in February, 2022. It is, however, required that each elected Representative is required to have an open mind, an independent thought process as well as a willingness to accept reality.
To date, too many Members of the House have willfully abandoned their Constitutional responsibilities if those facts are contrary to AIPAC and its principles.
It should be easy to understand that the 2014 civil war between Kiev and the Russian speaking-ethnic Donbass oblast began with the overthrow of its democratically elected President who resisted EU membership in favor of an already-existing trade alignment with Russia.
NATO’s military presence along the Ukraine-Russian border was always a potential threat.
Today it is common knowledge that the 1990 agreement between Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev and the Bush Administration that German reunification precluded NATO not “one inch east” to the Russian-Ukraine border; thereby protecting Russia’s sovereignty.
The fact that the agreement dates back to the early 1990’s is further indication of the long standing obligation from the US and Europe to secure Russia’s independence.
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It has been disappointing that President Trump still believes that with the world’s largest oil and gas reserves, fifth globally in coal reserves and fourth in LNG production, that Russia’s energy revenues can be blocked with additional sanctions.
Rather than rebuilding relations through dialogue and practical cooperation, President Trump will fail again as US sanctions have failed for the last four years.
In mid July, Sen. Lindsay Graham’s unexpected death became the rallying cry for continued Ukraine support in its conflict with Russia when the Senate introduced the Lindsay O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 (S 5025) with sixty three co-sponsors.
Sponsorship of the Act by the House followed with Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R- Texas) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md) focused on blocking Russia’s oil and gas revenue as well as including expanded Iran sanctions to restrict its energy and weapons sectors.
As war fever in Congress has become a steady White House drumbeat, the Graham Sanction Act has had a circuitous, unusual route to enactment:
HR 8334 was originally introduced as the SEED Act “Supporting Early Childhood Educators Deduction for Expenses” in the House but not acted upon legislatively until it was forwarded to the Senate where a substitute HR 5334 became known as the “Lindsay O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act.”
The Act would impose sweeping economic and financial sanctions on Russia to isolate its economy and disrupt its defense and energy sectors. The bill mandates extension of existing Iranian sanctions through 2031 to maintain ongoing diplomatic and economic pressure. The Act penalizes what it refers to as foreign aggression while restricting access to U.S. capital and markets.
In an unusual twist of legislative process where the House is Constitutionally responsible (Article 1, Section 7) for “all bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House,” the Graham Sanction bill did not technically originate nor was it “adopted” in the House before being forwarded to the Senate.
While the House ostensibly delayed adoption due to uncertainty of passage if Democrats united with enough GOP House Members to defeat the Graham Act, there was a questionable circumvention of the Constitutional process to fast forward the Graham Act to the Senate for adoption.
In other words to avoid what might have been certain defeat, the pro Sanction forces considered a bit of legislative flim-flam. The Senate’s HR 5334 “amendment” replaced the House SEED text with a new sanctions package as the House could only adopt the sanctions version after Senate passage.
This was considered a major substantive change — the Senate effectively turned the original SEED bill into an anti Russian sanctions package, adding extensive restrictions on Russia and Iran, including tariffs, energy export bans, and financial restrictions.
On August 7, H.R. 5334 passed the Senate 86-11 after adding language regarding the “five top importers of Russian oil to be tariffed” possibly to include China, India, Hungary, Slovakia and Azerbajian making them subject to a secondary tariff mechanism if they continued to purchase Russian energy.
The Act does not specifically identity the five countries but requires that the US Trade Representative identify the “top five” within thirty days of enactment. In addition, direct imports from Russia could face duties of up to 500% on imported goods into the US.
The conscientious Senate No votes were Sen. Blunt-Rochester (D- De), Sen. Hassan (D-Nh), Sen. Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Markey (D-Ma), Sen. Ossoff (D-Ga), Sen. Padilla (D-Ca), Sen. Sanders (I-NH) and Sen. Warren (D-Ma).
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The House then needed to “concur” with the Senate Amendment which began with House Rules Committee (7-3) to allow adoption of the Senate “substitute.”
The Senate Act authorizes the President to impose tariffs of up to 100% ad valorem on imports from countries that are “significant purchasers” among the five largest buyers of Russian-origin crude oil or natural gas or those reselling Russian oil.
The Act expands statutory sanctions, tariffs, and prohibitions on Russia and extends existing sanctions on Iran. The US goal has been to restrict Russia’s economic benefits from sale of its petroleum and natural gas; thereby ostensibly limiting its ability to conduct the SMO.
The true objective of US sanctions has been to weaken Russia economically, technologically, and geopolitically – all of which have failed as the Kremlin described its growing trade relationship with Asia and expanding ties to non-western partners with an immunity to external pressure.
On September 16, Speaker Johnson announced a House recess until after the mid term elections; possibly to deny Rep. Massie a vote on the Hegseth impeachment.
First on the House schedule that morning, immediately after the House Chaplain and One Minute Speeches, as if to assure that the Senate ‘amendment’ would be accomplished, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul (R-Tx) called up HR 5334 to begin a one hour debate on the “LOG Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act” as adopted by the Senate.
Within that one hour, seventeen House Members spoke in favor of accepting the Senate substitute revealing themselves to be egregiously uninformed and spreading exaggerations and deceits about the origin of the Russian ‘invasion’ and Russian kidnapping of children or bombing churches and schools.
Not one House Member spoke against passage of HR 5334’s sanctions package.
Those who spoke in favor, many whom have taken taxpayer funded trips to Kiev, included Members as if an Aipac Honor Roll of political seniors revealed a near total ignorance that Ukraine is not a functioning democracy.
During debate, it was not clear there was any understanding that the Russian SMO ‘invasion’ did not include the entirety of Ukraine but has been limited to its Russian oblasts which had all been annexed into Russia in 2022.
There was no mention of Zelensky’s political corruption with American taxpayer funds, no mention of conscription videos kidnapping young men for the front lines, martial law cancelling elections, closure of churches in Ukraine and removal of government ministers for bribery and embezzlement.
After a full hour debate, the House adopted “Concurrence with Senate Amendments to HR 5334 Lindsay Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act” with final passage approved 262 – 159 including 203 GOP including 58 Dems voting Aye and 7 GOP and 152 Dems voting Nay with 12 Not Voting.
Despite not one Member of the House speaking against the geopolitical demerits of the Graham Sanctions Act or against the Ukraine war, still 159 House Members voted against the Sanctions Act.
On September 18, President Trump, not known for strategic thinking, promptly signed the Russian Sanctions Bill authorizing tariffs up to 100% reducing Russia’s energy revenue and relinquishing any pretense that he ever opposed the Ukraine war or intended to end the Ukraine war on “day one” which never occurred.
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Moscow press spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded “it’s an unfriendly move” and “it’s important not to forget here that more than 30,000 different sanctions have been imposed against Russia: market-related, corporate, sectoral, individual sanctions and so on. And, of course, Russia has largely adapted to these sanctions and found ways to mitigate their detrimental effect.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun condemned the Act with the “US has no right to interfere with a nation’s trade relationships” and that China opposes any act not approved by the UN Security Council. China further protested the US of ‘long arm jurisdiction.”
India’s Foreign Ministry reiterated New Delhi’s “firm commitment to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people.”
Washington has sanctioned Iran since 1979 when the Islamic revolution took control of the Country valued approximately at $1 Trillion of cumulative economics cost. With HR 5334, the US has expanded its Iran sanctions to include 27 Iranian airlines warning foreign companies and banks against further sanctions if business continued with the airlines.
The Hungarian government which receives 90% of its crude oil supply from Russia, has requested an exemption from Russian sanctions.