Washington — GOP Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said Sunday that he’s hopeful the Senate will soon pass a Russia sanctions bill as “one of the legacies” of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch backer of stricter Russia sanctions who died suddenly Saturday.
“This bill would be an important symbolism to say, ‘We’re going to be with Ukraine.’ And I certainly hope the Senate moves it this week,” Turner said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
On Friday, Graham announced alongside Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, that they had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward with an updated Russia sanctions package.
Designed to heap economic pressure on Moscow in an effort to bring the four-year war on Ukraine to a close, the package would impose sanctions and tariffs on countries doing business with Russia, including those that buy Russian oil.
Graham, who died after a “brief and sudden illness” Saturday, had been pushing for the sanctions for more than a year, after first introducing the bill last April. Last July, Graham said on “Face the Nation” that a “turning point” was coming in Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying tighter sanctions would give Trump a “sledgehammer” against Russia’s economy. But Senate Republicans waited for months for the go-ahead from the administration, despite support from the bulk of the chamber.
The South Carolina Republican met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just days ago in Kyiv. Zelenskyy remembered Graham Sunday as a “staunch advocate for bipartisan and bicameral support for Ukraine.”
Turner, who was at last week’s annual NATO Summit alongside Graham and other lawmakers, said as they met with Zelenskyy, “Lindsey Graham was making the point of the need for this sanctions bill.”
Turner said “what’s so sad about losing Lindsey” is, in debates about whether to pursue a restrained “America First” foreign policy, “you can be America First and still understand that it doesn’t have to be America alone.”
“Allies want America’s voice. America’s voice is important. America needs to stand for freedom and democracy and liberty,” Turner said. “And that’s what they saw in the voice of Lindsey Graham.”
The Ohio Republican said “what they saw in Lindsey was someone who was willing to stand up and say, ‘You’re not alone. America is with you.'”
“He was that voice with Ukraine,” Turner added.
Turner said while he doesn’t know whether GOP leaders have considered moving the sanctions bill, the House has passed a version of the legislation.
“So I know there’s broad support,” he said. “There were more than a veto-proof number of senators who co-sponsored it. With the White House’s support, this bill could be on the president’s desk this week.”
GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said in a post on X Sunday that he would introduce a House version of Graham’s Russia sanctions legislation this week, urging that “Congress should pass it in his honor.”
Shaheen said in a statement to mark Graham’s passing that “there can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the causes he fought for” than to pass the Russian sanctions legislation that the senators had announced White House support for days earlier. She cited Graham’s “long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine.”
Blumenthal likewise urged Senate leaders to move ahead on the sanctions bill in a statement honoring Graham. The Connecticut Democrats said he will “forever remember our last lengthy conversation this weekend, when he exulted at reaching an agreement on our Russian sanctions bill and said, ‘this is a big effing deal – we all did good.'”
“When we last spoke, he was as enthusiastic and exuberant as I’ve ever seen him,” Blumenthal said. “Passing the sanctions bill right away would be a fitting tribute.”
