Sen. Darin Graham, who currently holds his brother’s seat in Congress, said there was “no better way” to honor his brother. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy watched the vote from inside the Senate chamber.
Dignitaries from around the world attend Lindsey Graham’s funeral
Dignitaries from across Washington and around the world attended Lindsey Graham’s funeral, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Trump.
WASHINGTON — Hours after a Republican lawmaker’s funeral in Washington attended by Ukraine’s president, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to move forward with a Russia sanctions package inspired by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
The bill easily cleared a procedural vote, the first of several hurdles to becoming law, with bipartisan support on an 86-12 vote. Eleven Democrats and one Republican, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, voted against the bill.
Mr. Graham’s sister, Darling, who was appointed to replace him, is the lead sponsor of the bill, which has been renamed the Lindsay O. Graham Russia Sanctions Act of 2026.
“What better way to honor Senator Graham than by advancing this bipartisan agreement,” Darling Graham and a bipartisan group of senators supporting the bill said in a joint statement before the vote.
Graham was an ardent supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia and said he secured support for President Donald Trump’s version of the bill before his sudden death from a torn aorta.
The bill would give the president new powers to sanction Russian officials, foreign nationals, and financial institutions with ties to the country’s war machine. It also authorizes President Trump to impose 500% tariffs on Russian imports and up to 100% tariffs on Moscow’s top buyers of oil, petroleum and natural gas. The bill would also give President Trump the power to punish so-called shadow fleets, ships that circumvent Russian energy sanctions.
“This bill aims to cut off President Vladimir Putin’s most important resource in his war against Ukraine: funding,” the bill’s co-sponsor, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), said on the Senate floor.
The vote on Tuesday, July 28, was largely symbolic of the Senate’s one-month departure from the city on August 7. The House needs several more votes before the bill can formally pass the Senate.
In that case, the bill would also have to pass the House of Representatives, which is in session until August 31, before it can be sent to President Trump. In June, the House passed its own sanctions and aid package for Ukraine over Republican leadership.
Democrats who opposed the sanctions said they were concerned about tariff provisions that would give too much power to President Trump.
“In effect, this is a complete delegation of Congress’s tariff authority to the executive branch,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said on the Senate floor.
The White House told USA TODAY that President Trump supports the Senate bill that would extend sanctions on Iran.
After a private sit-down with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy went to the Capitol and held a bipartisan meeting with senators. He then went up to sit between Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso and Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and watch them vote.
Zelensky was one of three world leaders who traveled to the United States to attend Graham’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral.
In a July 28 interview on “Fox & Friends,” President Trump said Graham was combative in his support for Ukraine. In a social media post, President Zelenskiy thanked the United States for its “determined support” during the more than four-year war to repel Russian aggression, calling him a “true friend” of the people.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and shows little sign of slowing despite the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts to broker an agreement with both countries that would end the conflict. Last August, President Trump hosted a meeting in Alaska for Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by a visit to Washington by President Zelensky and European leaders, but no progress was made.
