Capitol Hill wants to get tougher on Russian oil and gas

Driving the news: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are up to 81 co-sponsors of their Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, they said Wednesday.

• The bill would impose 500% tariffs on U.S. imports from countries that buy Russian oil, gas and other goods.
• That would hit China, which has boosted Russian oil imports as the EU has shunned Russian barrels.

State of play: Graham and Blumenthal, in a statement, said that if Russia continues to avoid serious peace negotiations, it "can expect decisive action" from the Senate.

• The bill would "hold China accountable for propping up [Vladimir] Putin's war machine by buying cheap Russian oil from the shadow fleet," they said.
• "Without China's economic support, Putin's war machine would come to a grinding halt."

Yes, but: It's not clear if Trump will ever support tough new sanctions on Russia — and that seems needed for Senate GOP leadership to bring it up.

• Majority Leader John Thune is a co-sponsor of the bill, but signaled Monday he'll take his cues from Pennsylvania Avenue.
• "If the White House concludes that tougher sanctions are in order, we're here for it," he told reporters.
• His office didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Wednesday. The White House declined to comment.

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat, told Axios' Hans Nichols on Wednesday: "We need to make it very clear to Vladimir Putin that we are going to increase the pressure on Russia, to get them to the table to resolve the war in Ukraine."

Friction point: Some GOP Senate Republicans don't want to wait and "feel that they may have to make a move to hurry Trump along in the talks," Semafor reported Wednesday.

• Reuters reports that "Ukraine will ask the EU next week to consider big new steps to isolate Moscow, including seizing Russian assets and bringing in sanctions for some buyers of Russian oil."

• The EU already unveiled expanded sanctions on Russia's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers earlier this week.

Reality check: ClearView Energy Partners points out that the Trump administration has been signaling a "dovish posture" as it seeks to pause the Russia-Ukraine war.

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump officials appear to be using Graham's bill as a "'bad cop' foil to the President's more amicable outreach," ClearView said in a note.
• But the research firm isn't ruling out a Senate "stampede" toward passage with a veto-proof majority.

Catch up quick: Russia's invasion has closed off some markets for Kremlin-backed energy, but Moscow's revenues remain robust despite falling since 2022.

• Russia's fossil fuel export revenues last month were $662 million per day, per the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which carefully tracks the topic.

What we're watching: The White House-Capitol Hill interplay.

• "Graham's conversations with the White House about this legislation have been continuous and consistent," a Senate GOP aide granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations told Axios.