Rubio: Administration Still Giving Congress Feedback on Russia Sanctions Bill
The Trump administration continues to give lawmakers feedback on a long-pending bill that would impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said June 3.
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Rubio said President Donald Trump has authorized his administration to communicate with Congress about the proposed Sanctioning Russia Act, which Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced in April 2025 (see 2504020003).
“Our White House Office of Legal Counsel, along with the interagency, has been working with Sen. Graham’s office on the details of that bill and providing feedback on things that would be acceptable to us,” Rubio testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. “As recently as yesterday, there [were] comments that came back from one of our agencies, I believe it was Treasury, … that I think Sen. Graham will be incorporating” into the bill.
Rubio said he and Graham discussed the legislation moments before the committee hearing began.
Democratic Sen. Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire said the bill would place much-needed pressure on Russia to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine, but she accused the administration of being slow to embrace the legislation.
“My understanding is that we are still waiting after months for the White House to make a decision on whether this is something they’re going to support,” she said. While Trump promised during his 2024 presidential campaign to quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war, “Here we are almost a year and a half into this administration, and he has let Russia and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin off the hook.”
Rubio disagreed with her assessment of the administration's approach, saying Russia "remains one of the most sanctioned countries on the planet by the United States."