On a historic Friday vote in Washington, the U.S. Senate delivered an overwhelming bipartisan endorsement of a sweeping new sanctions package targeting Russia, capping a year-long advocacy campaign led by the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to tighten U.S. backing for Ukraine amid its drawn-out defensive war against Russian invasion.
Passing by a lopsided margin of 86-11, the legislation is crafted to cut off critical war funding for Russian President Vladimir Putin by penalizing nations that continue to purchase Russian oil, natural gas and other key exports. The vote carries deep personal and political resonance: just one week prior, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat in the Senate gallery to watch initial procedural votes on the bill, just hours after attending Graham’s funeral in Washington and holding bipartisan talks with U.S. senators. Graham, who had only just returned from a visit to Ukraine when he secured a final agreement on the legislation with the White House on July 10, died suddenly the next day from an aortic tear.
Standing on the Senate floor ahead of the final vote, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — who co-led negotiations on the package with Graham — reflected on the moment. “Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine — and Putin is watching from Moscow,” Blumenthal said. “I would like to think Lindsey Graham is watching, too. Today we say to the people of Ukraine: You are not alone. And today we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine.”
This broad show of Senate unity marks the most consequential shift in U.S. policy toward the three-year-plus war during President Donald Trump’s second term, a conflict that has now lasted longer than the entirety of World War I. For months, Congress had grappled with gridlock over sustaining U.S. funding and military supplies for Ukraine, but Trump has publicly backed the sanctions package, building pressure for the House of Representatives to bring the bill to a vote and send it to the White House for signing.
Named in Graham’s honor, the bipartisan measure grants the president authority to impose tariffs on the world’s five largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas — a list that includes major emerging economies China and India. Exceptions are carved out for nations that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are actively working to cut their reliance on Russian energy exports. Beyond secondary penalties for third-party buyers, the package expands direct sanctions to target Putin, his top political and military allies, major Russian financial institutions, and key Russian energy infrastructure projects. It also closes a longstanding loophole in existing sanctions by cracking down on the aging, reflagged oil tankers Russia has used to evade export restrictions and keep its energy revenues flowing.
The legislation includes built-in flexibility: it grants the president waiver authority to lift specific sanctions or restrictions if he formally certifies to Congress that such a move serves U.S. national interests. Still, the grant of new tariff authority to Trump sparked opposition from across the ideological spectrum, with progressive Democrats forming the core of the 11 “no” votes. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns that broad tariff power could drive up import prices, worsen ongoing inflation, and raise cost-of-living burdens for American households.
Appointed by South Carolina’s governor to fill her late brother’s Senate seat, Republican Sen. Darline Graham reaffirmed her commitment to advancing his final policy priority. “This legislation hits Putin where it hurts,” she said in remarks on the floor.
For Ukraine, the package carries both strategic and symbolic weight, Zelenskyy has said. During his closed-door meeting with senators last week, the Ukrainian leader noted that Kyiv’s forces have made incremental battlefield gains but continue to depend on sustained U.S. support. Publicly, he thanked the Senate for the vote, saying the package sends a “big signal” of American solidarity to Ukraine and its global allies.
Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who attended the meeting with Zelenskyy, echoed that framing, calling the legislation “important as a moral signal to a country that is weary and tired, though holding its own.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the timing of the vote, ahead of Russia’s scheduled national elections. Advancing the package now, she argued, will increase pressure on Putin to enter serious negotiations toward a negotiated peace deal. She warned that every time the U.S. hesitates to take strong action against Russia, Moscow responds by ramping up its offensive attacks. “If we can’t shut down the funding for the war machine that Russia is using against Ukraine, then they’re going to keep at it,” Shaheen said.
Criticism of the bill centered on the expanded tariff authority, with lawmakers from both parties arguing it grants too much unchecked power to the executive branch. The Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have stripped the new tariff authority from the bill. Paul argued the measure would impose unnecessary costs on U.S. taxpayers, while Wyden noted that many American households are already struggling with persistent economic strain. “We’ve got folks who are walking an economic tightrope here in America,” Wyden said.
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who had delayed consideration of the package over his concerns about tariff authority, secured a written guarantee from the Trump administration via U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that establishes clear guardrails for the use of tariffs. Under the commitment, tariffs will be lifted once a country is no longer listed as a major purchaser of Russian energy or a facilitator of sanctions evasion. “We should not have to choose between putting a check on Putin’s aggression and putting a check on this president’s tariffs regime,” Warnock said, adding that if Trump “oversteps his power, we will see him in court.”
Many other Democrats who hold reservations about granting Trump new executive powers ultimately supported the bill, saying they would not risk undermining critical support for Ukraine. “Weighing that against the boost for Ukraine, I think it’s important to support Ukraine right now,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
The sanctions package will now head to the House of Representatives, where Senate momentum is expected to push for a swift vote when lawmakers return from recess at the end of the month. The House already passed a separate Ukraine aid and Russian sanctions package in June, which included security assistance and reconstruction funding for Kyiv alongside penalties for key sectors of the Russian economy. That earlier measure drew bipartisan support despite objections from Republican leaders, who argued it undercut negotiations to produce a stronger, more unified piece of legislation.