Bills aimed at rebuffing Trump’s Russia waivers filed in House
A bipartisan coterie of House members unveiled legislation this week that would undo President Donald Trump’s recent authorization of U.S. purchases of Russian energy — and prevent future such moves.
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The bill, sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., would nullify the president’s recent decision allowing the purchase of Russian diesel fuel. It would also disallow future waivers to the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act of 2022.
Third, it would require the provision of U.S. intelligence support to Ukraine’s military.
“Our message must be unmistakable: America stands with Ukraine,” Fitzpatrick said on X on Friday afternoon. “Our laws must be upheld. And aggression must carry a cost greater than its reward.”
Fitzpatrick’s bill has two original co-sponsors: Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.
Meanwhile, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has unveiled similar legislation that would undo Trump’s easing of energy sanctions on Russia.
Legislative responses
Razom for Ukraine, an advocacy group for that country’s defense, endorsed both bills on Friday.
“The Administration’s decision to import Russian diesel is illegal, and Congress must pursue every available avenue to revoke the agreement, mandate additional sanctions on Russia, and impose serious economic pressure on the Kremlin regime,” the organization said on X.
The introduction of the two House measures represents the first legislative responses in Congress to administration decisions this month that critics have cast as helping the Kremlin and hurting Ukraine.
A bipartisan and bicameral chorus has pushed back against the moves this week, and their voices have only grown louder, despite the silence of most elected Republicans about the administration’s perceived turn toward Russia.
Related: Bipartisan pushback swells against Trump’s Ukraine moves
Still, even Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a Trump loyalist, expressed misgivings last weekend about the relaxation of the Russian energy sanctions, saying “we need to talk” to the White House about the matter and “carefully consider the unintended consequences that may ensue.”
Marked shift in two weeks
The flurry of apparently Russia-friendly moves by the Trump administration began on Oct. 9, when the administration announced the six-month waiver of sanctions on purchases of Russian diesel fuel.
Five days later, Trump also waived the Russia sanctions, including on the country’s energy, contained in a recently enacted law named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
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Then Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said warnings of missile attacks that the U.S. government had previously provided Ukraine were halted for several days, though Zelenskyy has since said the warnings have been restored.
Moreover, U.S. shipments of Patriot antimissile interceptors that were bought by European governments had been slowed, Zelenskyy said.
Lastly, Zelenskyy said Space X satellite communications services, SpaceLink and SpaceShield, were downgraded in Ukraine.
As a result, Kyiv’s drones and antidrone interceptors were unable to fly at sufficient speeds, leaving the country short of the defenses it needed amid growing Russian attacks, including on civilian targets.
The SpaceX systems remained throttled and the interceptor shipments were still tied up, Zelenskyy said Friday in an address to the Hudson Institute, a think tank.
Bipartisan concern
Top Trump administration officials have suggested the slowdown in SpaceX systems was a decision taken by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
Musk, meanwhile, has pointed the finger at the White House.
Trump, for his part, said Friday he has “no idea” who ordered the restrictions.
“But I wouldn’t tell you if I did know,” Trump told reporters, adding: “If there is a problem, I’ll get it straightened out.”
Senators in both parties have protested the range of recent Trump actions on Russia. The continuing SpaceX restrictions drew additional fire from lawmakers on Friday.
Six Democratic lawmakers from both chambers wrote Musk demanding answers about the limitations, just as four senators had sought answers earlier this week from SpaceX Legal Department vice president Christopher Cardaci.
Also on Friday, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a member of Armed Services, said restricting Ukraine’s access to the SpaceX satellite data “hands Russia an advantage.”
Kelly said he is working with Republicans and Democrats “to demand the Administration fix this and keep it from happening again. Decisions this consequential shouldn’t be left to the whims of a private company.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., also spoke out on X.
“Whoever is handing Putin the gift of a more vulnerable Ukraine should at least have the guts to put their name on it,” Tillis wrote.
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