House Dems face Trump tariff dilemma as major Russia sanctions bill heads to floor

House Democrats will soon have to grapple with a decision over whether to give President Donald Trump more tariff authority or potentially block Congress from cracking down on Vladimir Putin's bloody war in Ukraine.

The House Rules Committee has teed up votes on several bills this week, including the Senate's legislation aimed at sanctioning Russia and Iran.

That bill was named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a massive supporter of Ukraine who died unexpectedly at the age of 71 in July.

And while the majority of Democrats support action to help Ukraine against Russia's invasion, they'll also be forced to reckon with the legislation's language giving Trump additional authority to punish Russia and its allies with significant tariffs.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol building on March 27, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President of the United States Donald J. Trump during the 2026 Easter Egg Roll at the White House, Washington, D.C., on April 6, 2026. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images; Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Democrats have long been critical of Trump's unchecked use of tariffs against U.S. allies like Canada and Mexico, which have also been subject to a slew of court battles.

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It's part of why senior House Democrats said earlier this year that they would oppose the bill.

"House Democrats are rock solid in our support for Ukraine, but the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia And Iran Act would do more harm than good. This bill would dramatically expand presidential tariff authorities while failing to mandate sanctions on Russia, both of which are unacceptable," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said in a statement.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not give up his position on the bill during a Monday press conference, telling reporters, "We're going to continue to stand by the Ukrainian people and find a path forward to get a sanctions bill done while addressing the very real concerns that [Democrats] have raised about giving Donald Trump authority that the Supreme Court recently made clear he does not currently have, and should not have, because it belongs to the Congress pursuant to the Constitution."

The bill would direct the president to hike up to 500% tariffs on Russia and up to 100% on countries buying Russian energy.

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Trump would also be directed to impose significant sanctions on Russian officials and others responsible for continuing the war on Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, meets with Sen. Lindsey Graham in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The bill advanced through the House Rules Committee on Monday night, setting up a House-wide procedural hurdle called a "rule vote" on Tuesday afternoon.

If passed, the full House will vote on the sanctions bill on Wednesday afternoon, according to a preliminary legislative schedule obtained by Fox News Digital.

And with an increasingly vocal isolationist wing permeating the House GOP Conference, at least some Democrats will be needed to help the bill pass.

The package, pushed by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Graham, was in purgatory for nearly two years as the lawmakers and administration went back and forth to find a compromise that Trump and Congress could stomach.

Blumenthal defended the tariff language in the bill to Fox News Digital, "If Donald Trump wants to break this law, he will be restrained by the courts, just as when he broke the law on tariffs previously."

And Senate Democrats largely voted in favor of giving Trump limited tariff authority in exchange for the bone-crushing sanctions against Russia, despite raging against duties for years.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow on September 5, 2026. (Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Though some raised concerns, like Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., most Democratic caucus members gave a thumbs-up to the tariff power.

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That all came after Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., received guarantees from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that the tariffs baked into the sanctions package would just be limited to the top five energy trading partners with the Kremlin.