Senate Foreign Relations to pass three Russia pressure bills
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (R) holds a press conference with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (L), Democrat on Capitol Hill on July 15, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Three bills designed to ramp up pressure on Russia are teed up to pass the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday, according to lawmakers and aides.
Why it matters: The committee action will coincide with a last-minute visit to Washington by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who will meet Wednesday with President Trump as well as key lawmakers.
- If passed, the bills will allow a bipartisan group of senators to build momentum for action against Moscow and send a signal that Congress remains prepared to escalate.
What they are saying: "The more we can do up here to push back on Russia, the more anxious we are to do that," Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, told Axios.
- "Since the White House seems to be unwilling to act, I think it's important for Congress to take some action, and I'm very pleased that for the first time this year, we're going to have bills that will make it harder for Russia to continue to conduct this war," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the committee's ranking member, told Axios.
Driving the news: The committee is expected to move three pieces of bipartisan legislation.
- One would label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism over kidnapped Ukrainian children.
- Another would impose economic penalties on China for its support of Russia's war effort.
- A third bill repurposes frozen Russian assets held in the U.S. and then transfers them to Ukraine every 90 days.
Zoom out: In July, the Senate was barreling towards passing a sanctions bill that had 83 co-sponsors. It would have imposed 500% tariffs on countries that bought oil from Russia.
- But Senate GOP leaders pulled back the bill after Trump himself announced that he would unilaterally impose 100% tariffs if Putin didn't end the war in 50 days.
- Then Trump and Putin held a summit in Alaska in August and Senate Republicans wanted to give the president more space to negotiate, which frustrated Democrats like Shaheen.
Zoom in: Trump grew frustrated again, but then appeared to be more open to dealing with Putin, with a planned summit in Budapest. But that meeting is now on ice.
- When Trump was on the phone with Putin last week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated the "time has come" to move forward on the bill.
- When it looked like Trump and Putin would meet in Budapest, Thune reversed course and said Monday "we're kind of hitting the pause button."
The bottom line: Shaheen and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) will be hosting Rutte on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
- The legislative package is designed to build momentum for punishing Russia without pulling the trigger on the punishing sanctions bill that remains in limbo.
