[UPDATE] Congress sends Trump a bill letting him impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil

Named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, the bill also requires sanctions on Russian officials, defense contractors and shadow-fleet tankers.

The vote. The House passed the Russia sanctions package on Wednesday, Sept. 16, the last step before President Trump's signature after more than a year of stalling in Congress. The tariff lever. The bill lets Trump put tariffs of up to 100% on any country that keeps buying Russian energy — a border tax on that country's goods coming into the United States. The target is India and China, the two largest customers for Moscow's crude. The mandatory list. It also makes a set of sanctions mandatory rather than optional: on senior Russian officials, on foreign firms helping the Russian defense industry, and on the aging "shadow fleet" of tankers that moves oil around existing price caps (limits Western countries set on what buyers may pay for Russian oil). The party split. Most Democrats voted no — “What we’re not for is giving more tariff authority to this president,” Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts said during the debate, after Republicans in the Rules Committee refused to strip the tariff power or narrow it. Fifty-eight Democrats crossed over anyway, breaking with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Republicans carried the rest. What next. It goes to Trump's desk; he is expected to sign it, and the tariff authority is his to use or not use.

PREVIOUSLY

Aug. 28 — A Russian drone hit an ammunition depot in Myla near Kyiv; 38 died and four went missing.
Sept. 5-6 — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner carried a U.S. peace proposal to Putin in Moscow, then to Zelensky in Kyiv; Putin ordered a 72-hour halt to strikes on the two capitals.
Sept. 9 — Russia resumed strikes on Kyiv as soon as the pause lapsed, killing seven; Trump and Putin then spoke for an hour.
Sept. 13 — Putin warned that European troops in Ukraine would mean war with Russia, and Moscow rejected European peace plans.
Sept. 16 — The House voted 214-211 to bring the sanctions bill to the floor, with two Democrats saving the rule after two Republicans defected.

ContextThe Senate passed the measure in August with broad bipartisan support, after Trump officially backed it and Sen. Lindsey Graham — the bill's lead sponsor and one of Ukraine's biggest champions in Congress until his sudden death in July — served as the key negotiator with the White House. The bill was renamed for Graham after his death. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, helped write the bill, and Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, led it in the House. The tariff power is the contested piece — the courts restrained Trump’s earlier tariffs, imposed on his own authority. Blumenthal, who helped write the bill, made the bill’s answer himself: “If Donald Trump wants to break this law, he will be restrained by the courts, just as when he broke the law on tariffs previously.” This time the power comes from Congress, not the president’s own signature.