Some Republicans privately fear Russia sanctions bill will give Trump too much power on tariffs

By Morgan Rimmer, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Congress is poised to deliver President Donald Trump one final win ahead of the midterms — a major Russia sanctions bill that critics warn will empower him to impose sweeping new tariffs that could reverberate across the economy.

The House on Wednesday is expected to give final approval to the Russia sanctions bill named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. It would then go to Trump’s desk for his signature.

Most GOP lawmakers support the bill. But privately, nearly a dozen Republicans had been lobbying party leaders in recent days to take out new tariff powers included in the bill — alarmed that it could further hike prices just ahead of the midterms, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team, however, rebuffed those proposed changes, those people said.

Under the new tariff authorities in the legislation, the Trump administration could impose levies of up to 100% on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India — which critics say could deliver a massive shock to the economy.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would determine the final tariff level. But that has not allayed concerns from some Democrats who have spoken out publicly – and some Republicans who have voiced fears privately – who believe the bill would ultimately empower Trump on tariffs, despite that potential guardrail.

Supporters of the bill on both sides of the aisle, however, argue that the tariff authority is limited and carefully tailored and that fears that the president would end up with more power on trade matters are unfounded.

The bill was first introduced in April 2025, and — over the course of more than a year of painstaking negotiations — Graham led the charge to get the White House on board. His last public appearance, only one day before he died, was in Ukraine. During the visit, while standing in front of tanks on the streets of Kyiv, he announced that Trump would back the bill.

For many Democrats, it will be a difficult vote: Most in the party were eager to support the package, which places mandatory sanctions on top figures in the Russian government, including President Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian oligarchs, state-owned enterprises and foreign companies supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.

But it caused deep tensions within the party, with prominent Ukraine allies like senior Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland delivering an impassioned defense on a bill that his own leadership had voiced concerns over. A day earlier, a pair of centrist Democrats even flouted their party leaders to help Republicans bring the bill to the floor when GOP votes fell short.

The Senate passed the bill in a broad bipartisan vote in August.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill in the Senate, told reporters this week that he was “very hopeful that the House will recognize that we have a profound responsibility.”

“There’s an urgency here. In my last meeting with President Zelensky, he was insistent that we should pass the Russia sanctions bill,” he added.

But many Democrats in the House opposed the bill. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced during debate on the bill that he would not support the measure, citing the additional tariff authority that his colleagues have objected to including in the package.

“Why in the world would this Congress give this president additional authority to visit that kind of economic harm on the American people?” he asked.

A trio of prominent Democrats — who all sit atop committees relating to foreign affairs or trade — warned the bill would “do more harm than good,”

“This bill would dramatically expand presidential tariff authorities while failing to mandate sanctions on Russia, both of which are unacceptable,” Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Richard Neal of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia said.

Meeks is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Neal serves as the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Beyer is the senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

“These flaws would raise Americans’ prices while undermining support for Ukraine in the long term,” they said.

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