WASHINGTON DC – As the US Senate is set to move ahead next week with Senator Lindsey Graham’s bipartisan bill imposing more sanctions on Russia over its three-year-old war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Friday night that he does not know yet whether he supports the legislation.
“I have to see it. I’ll take a look at it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland upon returning to the White House.
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Graham, a leading Republican from South Carolina, visited Kyiv on Friday along with his Connecticut Democrat colleague Senator Richard Blumenthal, who also co-sponsors the hard-hitting “Sanctioning Russia Act.”
As of Saturday morning, the legislation had 82 sponsors: 41 Republicans, 40 Democrats and one independent.
Remaining 12 Republicans and six Democrats are yet to publicly express their support to the bill: Jim Banks (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Ashley Moody ( R-FL), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Rand Paul (R-KY), Tim Scott (R-SC), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
On Friday, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent reached out to the offices of remaining non-cosponsoring Senators but has not heard back by the publication deadline.
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Razom for Ukraine, a US-based organization that advocates for Ukraine and provides humanitarian aid to the war-torn country, said on a social media post last week that Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin “only responds to strength” and that Moscow should be hit with sanctions to be forced to the table: “The time for hesitation should be over!”
For Daniel Balson, Razom’s public engagement director, the decision for US legislators to sign on to the Russia sanctions bill “shouldn’t be hard.”
“Vladimir Putin continues to bomb Ukrainian civilians, kidnap Ukrainian children, and destroy Ukraine’s houses of worship. He continues to openly mock President Trump’s peacemaking efforts,” Balson told Kyiv Post.
“At some point, actions must have consequences,” he added.
To become law, the measure must pass both the Senate and House of Representatives before being sent to Trump’s desk for a signature.
Former US House speaker Newt Gingrich on Friday became the latest prominent Trump ally to publicly express his strong support for the Graham/Blumenthal bill, reminding that the House version of the legislation already has 16 Republican and 17 Democratic cosponsors.
“It is time to pass the House and Senate bills sanctioning Russia for its continued attacks in Ukraine despite President Trump’s efforts to get a ceasefire,” Gingrich wrote in a social media post.
“If Congress passes this Russian Sanctions legislation, it will be a strong signal that Americans are growing tired of Putin’s lies while he kills civilians,” he added
“If Putin has to be convinced we can make his war unwinnable and too expensive to continue, this is a good step and should occur as quickly as possible.”