Senate Passes Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026
On Tuesday night, the U.S. Senate voted 86-12 to advance the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, imposing up to 100 percent secondary tariffs on the world’s five largest purchasers of Russian crude oil and natural gas.
The measure is designed to do something no Russia sanctions package has previously accomplished: cut off the buyers, not just the seller. China and India together account for an estimated 70 percent of Russia’s energy export revenues; the bill would confront them with a binary — stop buying Russian energy or lose access to U.S. markets through tariffs of up to 100 percent on their imports, according to reporting on the Senate vote.
How Graham Act Survived the Supreme Court Before the Senate Voted
The bill’s constitutional architecture is what distinguishes it from any previous tariff action of the Trump era — and what makes Tuesday’s vote more than political theater. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.
The Graham Act’s architects had anticipated this constraint. Senate bill S. 5025 — formally 61 pages, nearly double the length of its 2025 predecessor — routes its tariff authority through the U.S. Trade Representative rather than through a presidential executive declaration, drawing on Congress’s own Article I, Section 8 commerce power.
Graham Act: A New Model for Post-IEEPA Tariff Sanctions Legislation
This architecture matters beyond Russia. The Graham Act is now the leading model for post-IEEPA tariff sanctions legislation. Any future congressional effort to impose tariffs as a coercive diplomatic tool — whether targeting another energy-exporting adversary, a nuclear proliferator, or a sanctions-evasion network — will look to S. 5025 as its constitutional template.
Shadow Fleet: Why Targeting Ships Doesn’t Work, and What Graham Act Does Instead
Russia does not need Western shipping to sell its oil. That is the core problem that existing sanctions have failed to solve — and the core reason Graham Act takes a structurally different approach. Since 2022, Russia has assembled a fleet of aging tankers — now estimated at roughly 600 vessels — registered under flags of convenience in Gabon, Palau, Mongolia, and Togo, insured through brokers in Dubai, Istanbul, and Singapore.
The Graham Act’s focus on the buyers, not just the seller, is what sets it apart from previous sanctions efforts. By targeting the world’s five largest purchasers of Russian crude oil and natural gas, the bill aims to cut off Russia‘s energy export revenue stream at its source.
Original Article: Graham Act Clears Senate 86-12, IEEPA-Proof Tariff Threat Targets Russia Oil — Techtimes