Thune signals Russia sanctions not likely to be on government funding stopgap
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday poured cold water on the likelihood that bipartisan legislation to place heavy sanctions on countries that buy oil from Russia will be added to a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government past Sept. 30.
Thune said he hopes the sanctions legislation sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) becomes “ripe” to move in the Senate soon, but he cast doubt on the likelihood of that happening.
“I would say that Russia sanctions — I’m hoping, I talked to Lindsey over the weekend. I hope it’s ripe here soon but I think one of the things the president is trying ensure happens before we do secondary sanctions is that our European allies join us,” Thune told reporters.
“I think it would … minimize the effectiveness of the sanctions unless we have all of our allies join us,” he added. “I commend the president for trying to do that. I think this needs to be everybody taking the same tack when it comes to addressing the situation in Ukraine and Russia.”
The Republican leader said he wants to move a House-passed government funding package later this week, something he acknowledged may require senators working into the weekend.
“I’d like to get it, if we can get it from the House, get it done this week before we leave,” he said.
Thune said he wants to keep the funding bill as “clean” as possible to lower the chances of a government shutdown. House GOP leaders have also indicated they would soon unveil a “clean” stopgap bill.
“The CR will have a few anomalies in it but … it’s going to be, by and large, clean, which is why the Democrats ought to be willing to go for it,” he said.
Thune said the stopgap funding measure could include more security funding for members of Congress, the Supreme Court and executive branch.
President Trump has requested $58 million to increase security for the executive and judicial branches.
Graham and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the lead Senate and House sponsors of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, issued a statement Saturday urging their colleagues to add the sanctions legislation to the continuing resolution.