Vote against the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, or at minimum strip its tariff provisions before it reaches the floor. The Supreme Court already blocked Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs under IEEPA. This bill hands him a fresh workaround — up to 100% tariffs on five countries, with no defined criteria for who qualifies, no automatic exemptions for allies, and no limits on how long the tariffs last.
The Cato Institute's Clark Packard and Scott Lincicome put it plainly in the Washington Post last week: "Trump could direct the trade representative to set the tariff rate at 100% for one buyer of Russian energy and zero for another." That's not sanctions policy — that's a blank check to bully trading partners over farm exports, drug prices, or whatever leverage Trump wants on any given day. It could also blow up the fragile U.S.-China trade truce. Rand Paul was right that these tariffs are a tax on American families, even if the bill's goal is legitimate.
Sanctioning Putin is worth doing. Giving Trump unchecked new tariff authority is not the price we should pay for it. Congress has spent fifty years handing trade power to the executive branch and then acting surprised when presidents abuse it. Don't do it again.
First sent on August 10 by Progressive Action
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