Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died last month, was among Kyiv's most outspoken allies in Congress in its four-year-long war with Russia, and the bill aims to increase economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.It also includes expanded sanctions on Iran sought by President Donald Trump as lawmakers moved to finally hold a vote on the measure well over a year since it was first introduced on April 1, 2025.The Senate's Republican leaders had not brought the bill up for a vote because of resistance from Trump, who had kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second term in January 2025.The Senate voted 86-11 to pass the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026," which would impose sanctions on Russian officials and authorize stiff tariffs on China, India and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.Broad support for tougher sanctions on Russia may not be enough to secure House passage, with some lawmakers wary that new tariff powers for Trump could raise costs for U.S. importers and consumers while exposing Republicans to political blowback. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed thanks to the US Senate. "We are very grateful to the US Senate and to everyone who supports Ukraine," he wrote in English on social media platform X."Adopting the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act certainly helps increase pressure on the aggressor to bring this insane Russian war against our independence and our people to an end."Skepticism in The HouseRepresentatives Gregory Meeks of New York and Don Beyer of Virginia said in a statement they still had "fundamental concerns" about the tariff powers for Trump, who has made them a central piece of his "America First" approach to foreign policy."What the bill does grant ... are sweeping new tariff authorities that the president could weaponize with abandon, as he has repeatedly done in the past," said Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Beyer, the senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee.Trump's fellow Republicans control only slim majorities in both the House and Senate.Only one Senate Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the bill. The chamber erupted into applause after the late senator's sister, Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill his seat, read out the final tally.