Senate Republicans criticized President Donald Trump for not taking an aggressive enough stance towards Russia. The lawmakers want to add more sanctions on Moscow and its trading partners, but have not received a green light from the White House to pass legislation.
“I’m sick of Trump and JD and their love affair with everything Putin,” an unnamed Republican Senator told The Hill. “They’re just testing how far we’ll bend over. It makes me sick.”
Republicans in the Senate want the White House’s approval to pass laws that add new sanctions on Russia and tariffs on Moscow’s trading partners. One bill, introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators led by Lindsey Graham, would place Russia and Belarus on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
A second piece of legislation would place 500% tariffs on India and China for trading with Russia. Graham, who is one of 80 co-sponsors of the bill, called the legislation “the most draconian bill I’ve ever seen in my life in the Senate.”
A second Republican lawmaker, who also refused to be named while criticizing Trump, said the President lacked “follow through” with Russia and was sending the Senate “mixed messages.”
While Trump has called for increasing economic penalties on Russia and placed a 50% tariff on India, he has not greenlit Senate Republicans to pass the bills. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Upper Chamber was unlikely to approve the legislation without the White House’s approval.
Last week, Graham said he met with Trump about giving the Senate Republicans permission to move forward with the legislation and believes he made progress.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was willing to criticize Trump without anonymity. “Why haven’t we taken up a Russia sanctions bill on the floor. I know the answer to that — the answer is, the president has asked for some time, but we’ve given him all summer. We’ve given him all summer, look what’s happened,” she said. “Everyone thought that with the Alaska summit we were going to see something, but it wasn’t very good for Ukraine. It just was Putin weighing in.”
