Washington, DC -- Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today issued the following statement raising serious concerns with the Senate’s Russia sanctions bill:

“I’ve said it repeatedly: we need to help Ukraine and sanction Russia to end its brutal war of aggression against its neighbor. I am encouraged by the Senate’s renewed urgency to pass Russia sanctions legislation in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, but the text released this week misses the moment.

“This is not so much a sanctions bill as it is a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families. The sanctions the bill does contain are entirely at Donald Trump’s discretion, and he has made clear repeatedly that he would rather waive sanctions on Russia than impose new ones.

“I urge my colleagues in the Senate to redirect this momentum toward a bipartisan, bicameral product that would actually mandate devastating sanctions on Russia and those fueling its illegal war. This does not require starting from scratch; I remain open to negotiating a good faith compromise built on the Ukraine Support Act that passed the House in June on a bipartisan basis. What I won’t support is handing President Trump a Trojan horse for tariff authorities he has repeatedly abused. That does nothing to help Ukrainians under Russian attack, and nothing to help the American families who pay the price for Trump’s tariffs.”

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