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{"id":26613,"date":"2026-07-29T12:02:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senate-launches-push-for-grahams-final-bill\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T12:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:02:35","slug":"capitol-agenda-senate-launches-push-for-grahams-final-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-senate-launches-push-for-grahams-final-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Senate launches push for Graham\u2019s final bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Senate is one step closer to achieving a top legislative priority of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham in a feat that seemed impossible a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>Graham\u2019s legislation targeting Russia with expanded sanctions got a huge boost Tuesday night with senators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/28\/senators-advance-russia-sanctions-bill-lindsey-graham-01014368\" target=\"_blank\"><u>voting 86-12<\/u><\/a> to advance it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy \u2014 who a year ago faced waning support in Washington \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/28\/zelenskyy-washington-hill-wins-01014504\" target=\"_blank\"><u>pitched senators shortly before the vote<\/u><\/a> as to how the bill could force Russia into peace talks and memorialize Graham.<\/p>\n<p>The bill, which has President Donald Trump\u2019s backing, still faces plenty of hurdles in the Senate and House.<\/p>\n<p>With August recess looming, senators have little time to finish passing the legislation \u2014 and tackle the rest of their to-do-list \u2014 before leaving town. It will require all 100 senators, including the bill\u2019s opponents, to cut a deal to speed up its consideration with amendment votes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we can start to winnow, hopefully, the list down,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune said as he left the floor after the vote, referring to amendments.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Rand Paul, for example, <a href=\"http:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/2026\/07\/sen-paul-mounts-effort-to-nix-tariff-provisions-in-russia-sanctions-bill-01014253\" target=\"_blank\"><u>is working on an amendment<\/u><\/a> to rein in new tariff powers given to the president under the bill. Sen. Ron Wyden also wants a tariff-related amendment and is working with Paul.<\/p>\n<p>Even if it gets through the Senate, there are still hurdles awaiting the legislation in the House. The top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means panels came out in opposition of the bill earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/newdemocratcoalition.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/new-dems-oppose-effort-to-greenlight-trumps-illegal-tariffs\" target=\"_blank\"><u>as did the<\/u><\/a> New Democrat Coalition.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Gregory Meeks said in <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov\/2026\/7\/meeks-issues-statement-opposing-tariff-powers-in-senate-russia-bill\" target=\"_blank\"><u>a statement<\/u><\/a> the Senate\u2019s version \u201cmisses the moment,\u201d but that he remained \u201copen to negotiating a good faith compromise.\u201d Meeks and Rep. Richard Neal both <a href=\"https:\/\/neal.house.gov\/2026\/07\/14\/neal-wyden-oppose-giving-trump-new-unilateral-tariff-power-in-sanctioning-russia-act\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>flagged opposition<\/u><\/a> to the measure\u2019s provisions expanding Trump\u2019s tariff authority.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Tuesday\u2019s vote \u2014 capping a day of memorial ceremonies to honor Graham and his alliance with Ukraine amid its war with Russia \u2014 might prove pivotal in spurring momentum for the measure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very thankful, this bill is so important,\u201d Zelenskyy, who witnessed the vote from the Senate gallery, told reporters Tuesday night. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about money and how Russia finances this war. It\u2019s also a big signal to Europe, big signal to Ukraine, big support of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/28\/zelenskyy-washington-hill-wins-01014504\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Zelenskyy finally gets Washington reading from the same playbook<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 CORNYN TO MEET WITH BLANCHE: <\/b>Sen. John Cornyn, a deciding vote on whether Todd Blanche gets confirmed as attorney general, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/28\/congress\/todd-blanche-judiciary-committee-delay-01013621\" target=\"_blank\"><u>is meeting with Blanche<\/u><\/a> on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning to hammer out his concerns. Cornyn, in exchange for his support, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/07\/27\/congress\/john-cornyn-red-line-blanche-01013201\" target=\"_blank\">pushing for ironclad modifications<\/a> to the IRS settlement that created a $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d and immunized Trump from tax audits. \u201cWe need it in writing,\u201d Cornyn said Tuesday night, adding he\u2019d meet with Blanche at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 VOUGHT MEETS SENATE GOP AS BUDGET PLAN EXPANDS: <\/b>White House budget director Russ Vought and Trump\u2019s top legislative aide, James Braid are scheduled to speak to Senate Republicans during a weekly lunch Wednesday as the administration eyes dramatically expanding the GOP\u2019s third party-line bill. Thune said Tuesday the White House wants to broaden the budget framework, which comes after the House adopted a slimmer resolution before leaving for recess \u2014 putting an already uncertain timeline for the measure further in doubt.<\/p>\n<p><i>Riley Rogerson and Chris Marquette contributed to this report<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate is one step closer to achieving a top legislative priority of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham in a feat that seemed impossible a year ago. Graham\u2019s legislation targeting Russia with expanded sanctions got a huge boost Tuesday night with senators voting 86-12 to advance it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy \u2014 who a year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}