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Democratic House leader Jeffries flags concerns as House passes Russia sanctions bill
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Russia sanctions bill had “so many loopholes” as Congress passed the sweeping bill to give Donald Trump the power to raise tariffs on top buyers of Russian energy.
The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 passed in a 262-159 vote on the last day before Congress goes on recess ahead of the midterm elections. Graham, who died earlier this year, co-authored and submitted the bill more than a year and a half ago.
But Jeffries said the legislation had so many loopholes that sanctions harming Russia might not be applied.
“What this legislation will do is give Donald Trump, perhaps, unfettered authority to unleash tariffs on the American people,” the New York lawmaker said as he announced he would vote no.
He added:
Why in the world would this Congress give this president additional authority to visit that kind of economic harm on the American people?
The bill would mandate new sanctions on Russian political and military officials, and foreign networks helping to supply Russia’s war machine and evade existing sanctions. It would also target Russia’s so-called fleet of “shadow tankers”, which have allowed the country to continue to ship crude around the world despite sanctions on its energy exports.
It would also allow Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top purchasers of Russian energy, including China, as well as other countries helping the Kremlin evade sanctions.
Democratic staffers supporting the bill said that it offered a “last chance” to increase sanctions on Russia before Ukraine entered a “long winter”. Russia has improved the drone technology it has used to strike Ukrainian infrastructure as Kyiv has suffered a shortage of anti-air missiles, leaving the country in a dire position.
Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican supporting the bill, called it the US Congress’ “Churchill vs Chamberlain Moment on Russia”.
Read our full report here:
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump responded to the Federal Reserve’s unanimous decision on Wednesday to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point, to a range of 3.75% to 4%, by demanding a massive cut in rates.
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Asked why it is so important to him to have his name inscribed on the Kennedy Center, a memorial to another president, Trump said he deserves “recognition” for saving the venue. If not, Trump said, “It’ll end up being ripped down.
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Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat and Kennedy Center trustee, has filed a motion for an emergency hearing on the performing arts venue’s apparent closure.
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Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate majority leader who returned to work this week after a months‑long absence, had to be prompted by colleagues as to how to vote near the start of a televised meeting of the Senate agriculture committee on Wednesday.
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The House speaker, Mike Johnson, cancelled votes currently scheduled for Thursday, meaning that lower chamber lawmakers will now head back to their districts for the midterm recess a day early. The change to schedule means that the House will avoid voting on Republican congressman Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
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Speaking in North Carolina, Trump explicitly compared his effort to blame Democrat Roy Cooper, the former governor and Senate candidate, for the brutal killing of a young Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, last year, by using false information, on the infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad.
Key events
A UN fact-finding mission on Iran said it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and sports facility in Iran in February, and that these constituted war crimes.
It also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
The findings in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, examined the US’s conduct during the Iran war that began in February and the Iranian government’s response to nationwide unrest that begun in late December.
The Iranian and US permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
US officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.
A key Senate Democrat has asked secretary of state Marco Rubio to ensure that US diplomats are involved in a Pentagon-led review of America’s military presence in Europe that has alarmed Nato allies.
In a letter addressed to Rubio, who is also the national security advisor, senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote that diplomats, including US ambassadors in potentially affected countries, are being kept out of the loop. The letter was first shared with Reuters.
The review, which began in June and is due to conclude by the end of the year, is part of a push by the Trump administration to have Europe rely less on the United States and instead take more responsibility for its own defense. The US has around 80,000 troops stationed in Europe.
“The Department of State, which is responsible for managing our bilateral relationships, has traditionally played a substantial role in reviews of this kind,” read the letter.
“Yet what we are hearing through our own conversations, travel across Europe and engagement with our Allies tells a different story. US ambassadors and chiefs of mission in affected countries have been excluded from consultations.“
The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the US House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study.
A report by Protect Democracy found that 34.8m people – about one in 10 Americans – now live in a different district than they did during the 2024 election cycle.
And about one-fifth of all Americans now live in a district where more than a quarter of voters are new to the district compared with the last election cycle, AP reported.
The findings display the stark overhaul that partisan redistricting fights kicked off by president Donald Trump last year have caused for Americans across the country.
“If this trend continues, it really brings into question whether or not elected officials are really representing their constituents anymore, or if the voters are being randomly picked by mapmakers to squeeze out partisan advantage,” said Ben Raderstorf, a policy advocate at Protect Democracy and one of the paper’s co-authors.
Democratic House leader Jeffries flags concerns as House passes Russia sanctions bill
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Russia sanctions bill had “so many loopholes” as Congress passed the sweeping bill to give Donald Trump the power to raise tariffs on top buyers of Russian energy.
The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 passed in a 262-159 vote on the last day before Congress goes on recess ahead of the midterm elections. Graham, who died earlier this year, co-authored and submitted the bill more than a year and a half ago.
But Jeffries said the legislation had so many loopholes that sanctions harming Russia might not be applied.
“What this legislation will do is give Donald Trump, perhaps, unfettered authority to unleash tariffs on the American people,” the New York lawmaker said as he announced he would vote no.
He added:
Why in the world would this Congress give this president additional authority to visit that kind of economic harm on the American people?
The bill would mandate new sanctions on Russian political and military officials, and foreign networks helping to supply Russia’s war machine and evade existing sanctions. It would also target Russia’s so-called fleet of “shadow tankers”, which have allowed the country to continue to ship crude around the world despite sanctions on its energy exports.
It would also allow Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top purchasers of Russian energy, including China, as well as other countries helping the Kremlin evade sanctions.
Democratic staffers supporting the bill said that it offered a “last chance” to increase sanctions on Russia before Ukraine entered a “long winter”. Russia has improved the drone technology it has used to strike Ukrainian infrastructure as Kyiv has suffered a shortage of anti-air missiles, leaving the country in a dire position.
Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican supporting the bill, called it the US Congress’ “Churchill vs Chamberlain Moment on Russia”.
Read our full report here:
In other developments:
-
Donald Trump responded to the Federal Reserve’s unanimous decision on Wednesday to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage point, to a range of 3.75% to 4%, by demanding a massive cut in rates.
-
Asked why it is so important to him to have his name inscribed on the Kennedy Center, a memorial to another president, Trump said he deserves “recognition” for saving the venue. If not, Trump said, “It’ll end up being ripped down.
-
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a Democrat and Kennedy Center trustee, has filed a motion for an emergency hearing on the performing arts venue’s apparent closure.
-
Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate majority leader who returned to work this week after a months‑long absence, had to be prompted by colleagues as to how to vote near the start of a televised meeting of the Senate agriculture committee on Wednesday.
-
The House speaker, Mike Johnson, cancelled votes currently scheduled for Thursday, meaning that lower chamber lawmakers will now head back to their districts for the midterm recess a day early. The change to schedule means that the House will avoid voting on Republican congressman Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
-
Speaking in North Carolina, Trump explicitly compared his effort to blame Democrat Roy Cooper, the former governor and Senate candidate, for the brutal killing of a young Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, last year, by using false information, on the infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad.
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