Senate Pushes Forward with Graham's Aggressive Russia Sanctions Bill as Establishment Honors Its Own
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Lawmakers are poised to vote on a bipartisan sanctions package targeting Russia, even as the political elite gather to pay tribute to the late Senator Lindsey Graham in Washington and South Carolina.
As the Senate prepares to advance yet another sanctions bill targeting Russia, the political establishment simultaneously mourns one of its own—Senator Lindsey Graham, who died at 71. While Graham is commemorated in two high-profile ceremonies in Washington—a public display in the Capitol rotunda and a private service at the exclusive National Cathedral—ordinary Americans are left to wonder if these gestures serve the public or simply reinforce elite power structures. Additional services will be held in his home state of South Carolina, further cementing Graham’s legacy among the political class.
World leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to attend the Washington events, highlighting the Senate’s continued alignment with foreign interests and interventionist policies. Simultaneously, the Senate is set to consider Graham’s hallmark legislation, which imposes sweeping sanctions on Russian officials, entities, and imports, and even penalizes countries that purchase Russian energy—measures that risk escalating global tensions and harming working people worldwide.
"To quote Senator Graham, ‘It’s a big effing deal. We all did well. We all did good,’" Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said, echoing the self-congratulatory tone of Washington insiders shortly before Graham’s death.
Blumenthal noted that the measure, recently renamed to honor Graham at the request of his sister, newly appointed Senator Darline Graham, is now being used to burnish the late lawmaker’s legacy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated the bill, which has been expanded to include sanctions on Iran and a mechanism for presidential waiver authority, will face a procedural vote on Tuesday night—yet another example of bipartisan consensus around punitive foreign policy.
"I hope the motion to get on it will be a very big bipartisan vote," Thune said, suggesting that the political class is eager to display unity when it comes to aggressive sanctions, regardless of the consequences for ordinary people.
Republican Representative William Timmons, a longtime friend of Graham, described the senator as singularly focused on public service throughout his career in the military and Congress—a narrative often used to justify the status quo and the endless cycle of foreign interventions.