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Of the many political crusades the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., undertook, few were as front of mind for him than crippling Russia’s war machine in its conflict with Ukraine.
Yet during the last year-and-a-half of President Donald Trump’s second term, momentum behind a bone-crushing sanctions package against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin would start and stop, with hopes rising and falling for its proponents every few months.
Earlier this year, Graham had similarly gotten a green light from the White House for a different iteration of the package.
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“It’s never going back on the shelf because President Trump believes he needs it,” Graham told Fox News Digital at the time. “I think he needs it.”
Hours before his death, he again got confirmation that the White House supported his and Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s, D-Conn., latest offering.
“Senator Graham and I were told, very authoritatively, literally just a couple of hours before his death, that the White House was OK with this,” Blumenthal said. “We were exalted, he was as exuberant and as over the moon as I’ve ever seen him.”
And on Tuesday, the same day that Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., was sworn in, Blumenthal and a bipartisan group of over a dozen senators unveiled the long-awaited Russia sanctions package.
“I guess I’m going to begin by channeling my inner Lindsey Graham to say, ‘This is a big effing deal,’” Blumenthal said.
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The Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 is the culmination of more than a year of work and closed-door negotiations across the aisle and with 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. It’s one that this time many senators believe it can pass.
Many of the core aspects of the legislation are the same: direct sanctions on Putin, Russian officials and Russian military leaders, up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports, tariffs of up to 100% on countries buying Russian energy, like China and India, and allowing Trump flexibility for when to turn off some aspects of the sanctions.
Key changes to the newly unveiled package include adding a “national interest certification” for Trump’s sanction waiver authority and incorporating sanctions on the myriad ships and tankers that comprise Russia’s “shadow fleet” hauling energy exports under the radar.
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A source familiar with the negotiations to craft the package noted that “this is the only product that currently has buy-in from everybody.”
“And it’s likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we would all like to see it,” they said.
Still, the political winds in Washington, D.C., can shift at a moment’s notice.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that he believed “anything is a candidate” to fall victim to external political fights, like Democrats blocking the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) over the Iran war or Republicans fearing another shutdown.
Then there’s the question of what could happen to the package in the House.
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“Anything you send to the House right now probably has the possibility of other things getting attached to it, but I’m hoping, at least over here, there’s some critical mass behind this,” Thune said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers who support the tranche of sanctions view it as a lasting mark of Graham’s legacy in the Senate, and one of the key pieces of work that he left unfinished after his sudden passing on Sunday.
“I’ve known this man for 32 years, and I’m willing to say this is Lindsey Graham’s greatest achievement when it comes to saving lives,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said.
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