Trump to sign new Russia sanctions bill — WSJ

Filed 53m ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

March of the Spoons

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The House passed a Russia sanctions bill 262-159, and President Trump is expected to sign it, according to a White House official cited by the Wall Street Journal. The measure, championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, lets the president impose tariffs up to 100% on countries still buying Russian energy and tightens restrictions on Russia's military, financial, and energy sectors.

Sponsor Michael McCaul called it leverage to force Putin to the table; the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, called it ‘deeply flawed,’ noting it hands Trump broad tariff powers while letting him waive the very sanctions it imposes, sanctions he could have levied unilaterally for the past 19 months but hasn't.

The bill began in April 2025 as a 500% tariff proposal, but the Wall Street Journal and Politico both reported the White House quietly lobbied to soften it before its eventual Senate passage 86-11 in August.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A bill that lets the man signing it decide whether to ever use it is not a sanctions bill so much as a permission slip with extra paperwork. Nineteen months of not using powers he already had is a pretty strong hint about how the new ones will get used. Watch the waivers, not the vote count.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: March of the Spoons · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →