The House passed the sweeping Russia-Iran sanctions bill named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday, sending it to President Trump's desk after months of reluctance, and fulfilling one of the South Carolina senator's final wishes.

The vote was 262, 159, clearing the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026" through Congress after the Senate approved it 86, 11 last month with broad bipartisan support. Trump is expected to sign the legislation, which authorizes tariffs of up to 100 percent on any country that purchases Russian energy, a provision that would directly target China and India, two of Moscow's biggest oil and gas customers. The bill also sanctions entities supporting the Kremlin's war on Ukraine and curbs funding for Iranian energy and weapons programs, the New York Post reported.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who led the floor fight for passage, framed the vote as both a strategic necessity and a tribute to his late colleague. Graham died at age 71 following a trip to Ukraine where he championed the legislation and secured Trump's backing for the final version.

McCaul invokes Graham's legacy as House clears the bill

McCaul did not hold back on the House floor. He argued the sanctions package would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and prevent further Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

"Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act."

McCaul also spoke directly about what the bill meant to Graham personally:

"Lindsey Graham once said this bill would be his great achievement. I can think of no better way... to honor his life and his legacy than by passing these tough sanctions."

Graham spent more than a year building support for the legislation, and Breitbart reported it took him essentially a full year to bring Trump on board. Trump ultimately backed the package after it was expanded to include an extension of sanctions on Iran. The bill sanctions Russian officials, banks, and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy flowing to global buyers.

Graham spent the last Friday of his life in Kyiv, where he announced Trump's blessing for the bill. He died the following night from an aortic dissection at his home on Capitol Hill, National Review reported. An investigation into his cause of death was conducted given Russia's known history of targeted assassinations, but preliminary findings indicated natural causes.

Trump paid tribute to Graham at his funeral, reprising their famous cell phone moment one last time, a gesture that captured the unlikely alliance the two men had forged over the years.

Democrats opposed the bill over tariff authority, not Russia

Strong Democratic opposition nearly complicated the math for Speaker Mike Johnson, who could not afford to lose many Republican votes. Most House Democrats voted against the legislation, but their stated objection had little to do with punishing Moscow.

Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, argued the bill hands Trump too much unilateral power over trade:

"President Trump has abused every presidential tariff authority, every single one, that Congress has given often to target our allies."

Beyer also claimed the legislation contains a loophole broad enough to let the president target almost any nation he chooses:

"The bill has a loophole that would allow him to define basically any country as a facilitator evading Russian sanctions."

That argument reveals the tension at the center of Democratic opposition. The same party that spent years demanding tougher action against Russia voted overwhelmingly against the most aggressive Russia sanctions package Congress has ever produced, because the bill also gives the current president flexibility on enforcement. Democrats did not dispute the bill's stated goal of squeezing Putin's revenue. They objected to who gets to pull the lever.

Not every Democrat followed the party line. Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland broke ranks and warned colleagues about the cost of inaction. "If we fail to pass this bill, there will be cheers in the Kremlin and tears in Kyiv," Fox News reported him saying.

Graham's sister carried the bill through the Senate

The legislation's path through the Senate was its own story. After Graham's sudden death, his sister Darline Graham was appointed to fill his Senate seat, a move that drew criticism from some on the left but gave the bill a powerful champion with a personal stake in its passage.

Sen. Darline Graham took to the floor to make the case in blunt terms. "It's time for a show of strength. It's time for action. It's time for the Senate to pass the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026," she said, Just The News reported.

The Senate cleared the bill 86, 11, a margin that reflected genuine bipartisan consensus. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was among the few dissenters, warning that the tariff provisions could "undermine America's strategic position in the world." Last-minute procedural hurdles from Paul and Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia were resolved through negotiation before the final vote.

Darline Graham has since advanced in South Carolina's political landscape in her own right, building on the seat her brother held for nearly two decades.

Zelensky watched from the Senate floor as the vote began

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers last month to urge passage of the bill. He watched an early procedural Senate vote from a seat in the chamber itself, a rare and visible show of how much Kyiv had riding on the legislation.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, acknowledged the moment during floor debate: "Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine, and Putin is watching from Moscow. I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching, too."

The bill represents the most ambitious legislative effort to support Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House. It goes beyond previous aid packages by targeting the economic infrastructure that funds Russia's war, its energy exports, rather than simply sending weapons and money to Kyiv. Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican, directed a message at Moscow during the House debate: "End this war, get out of Ukraine, focus on rebuilding your shattered international reputation and your destroyed economy."

The House had been reluctant to take up the bill for months. Whether that reluctance stemmed from genuine policy disagreements, political calculations around tariff authority, or simple inertia, the delay stood in sharp contrast to the Senate's decisive 86, 11 margin. The House's recent track record on major votes has shown how narrow margins and internal divisions can stall even broadly popular measures.

With the bill now headed to Trump's desk, the question shifts from whether Congress can act to whether the sanctions will deliver what their authors promised. McCaul says they will force Putin to negotiate. Beyer says they hand one president too much power. Graham believed the bill would be his greatest achievement.

Congress honored a dead colleague's last wish. Now it falls to the living to make the sanctions stick.