Graham warns Congress not to “mess it up”; The proposed sanctions against Russia are in balance

Congress is once again poised to consider a crushing sanctions package against Russia, but procedural disagreements threaten to derail the process.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have been working on a package of sanctions that would hit Russia and its energy trading partners where it hurts, aiming to cripple the Kremlin’s war machine.

The movement for their bill, which has more than 80 co-sponsors in the Upper House, has faltered and stagnated in recent months as President Donald Trump and his administration work to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.

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President Donald Trump meets with the White House Task Force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, November 17, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Now the president appears ready to push the package through Congress.

Graham said that during a round of golf last weekend, Trump told Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., “Move the bill forward.”

“I think it’s very important not to screw it up,” Graham said. “If you want (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the table, there will be no successful 28-point or 12-point plan unless Putin believes that we are going to continue to support Ukraine militarily and we are going to go after those who are buying cheap Russian oil.

“It is important that Congress passes this bill to give leverage to the president as he attempts to negotiate with Putin.”

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is interviewed by FOX News Channel’s Bret Baier outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington on September 29, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Although changes to the bill remain secret, a White House official told Fox News Digital that Congress and the White House are working together to ensure the legislation advances “the president’s foreign policy goals and authorities.”

“The Constitution grants the president the authority to conduct diplomatic relations with foreign nations,” the official said. Current bipartisan sanctions legislation provides new sanctions authorities for the President to conduct foreign diplomacy. »

And although Graham and Blumenthal worked together on the bill in the Senate for months, Thune felt it might be better if a sanctions package came through the House.

He added that what is more likely to happen is for the House to initiate the bill because it is a revenue measure, which usually starts in the Lower House.

“We had one in the Senate. We could do it here,” Thune said. “But I also think that if you want to expedite the process of getting it on the president’s desk, it will probably be quicker if it comes out of the House, comes to us, to pick it up and process it on the ground.”

But there could be a problem with the House starting the process.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital that, based on conversations with Thune, he understood the legislation would come from the Senate and then be shipped to the House. It was “news” to him when Thune argued that the House should be at the beginning of the legislative process.

He warned that in the House it would be “a much more laborious and longer process” and that he believed the Senate would send them its bipartisan package, making it easier to pass.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., leaves the chamber to speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on November 12, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

“The reason is it’s a quicker path to get there,” Johnson said. “If the bill originates in the House, it goes to seven different relevant committees, which, as you know, takes a long time to process. And even if I manage to convince some Speakers to relinquish their jurisdiction, not all will do so.”

But there are also procedural hurdles that could bog down the process in the Senate.

So far, the original version of the bill has been under consideration by the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee since April. It would have to be examined in committee, then rejected, then submitted for debate – and could at any time be blocked along the way.

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However, there remains hope that progress on the bill will materialize. And Graham and Blumenthal tweaked the legislation behind the scenes to best suit the White House’s desires.

Blumenthal told Fox News Digital after a recent meeting with Graham that the bill was largely the same, but he would not go into detail about the changes.

He noted that Trump’s decision to sanction two major Russian oil companies, which took effect Friday, was a good start.

“I think we’re waiting to finalize the bill and see what the president thinks about it,” Blumenthal said. “And, obviously, he’s already imposed sanctions on India and two major Russian oil companies, so he’s in the right frame of mind.”