Washington, Oct 26 (IANS) A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced two bills in the House of Representatives to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to allow purchases of Russian diesel and to bar future waivers on Russian energy, the first legislative pushback to a series of moves critics say help the Kremlin.
Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania introduced the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act of 2026, H.R. 10866, on October 22, with Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington as original cosponsors.
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Prohibit Corrupt Russia Oil Deals Act, H.R. 10828, on October 15.
Both bills target Russia-related General License 135, issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on October 9, which authorises transactions involving Russian-origin diesel, including imports into the United States, through April 2027.
“We must not import a single drop of Russian oil. Congress made that decision with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2022, and that law remains in force,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
“It is not a suggestion, nor should its intent be undermined through administrative waivers,” he said.
According to the bill text, Fitzpatrick’s measure would amend the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act so that OFAC “may not issue any waiver or general license” for importing Russian energy products, declare General License 135 to have “no force or effect”, and require US intelligence support for Ukraine.
“For years, President Trump criticized Europe for buying Russian energy and propping up Putin’s war economy,” Bacon said. “Now, Trump wants to make it easier for Putin to sell diesel fuel. He is wrong.”
“If the President is serious about bringing down gas prices, he should end the war in Iran, not send our tax dollars to Putin,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Meeks’s bill would nullify OFAC’s general licenses and bar future ones, prohibit the US International Development Finance Corporation from investing in Russian energy, and require the administration to impose sanctions on Russian energy, according to the Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats.
“It will hand Putin millions of dollars to continue slaughtering Ukrainian civilians with impunity,” Meeks said.
Meeks’s bill has 17 cosponsors, including Indian American Representative Ami Bera of California and Bacon, the committee said.
Five days after the diesel licence, Trump also waived the Russia sanctions, including on energy, in the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.
That law targets countries that buy Russian oil, and the waiver spared buyers such as India a 100 per cent tariff that was due to take effect, as IANS reported on October 17.
Fitzpatrick’s bill, as introduced, deals with US imports and US licences and does not address the Graham Act’s tariff-waiver authority.
India is among the largest buyers of Russian crude.
Both bills have been referred to several House committees, and neither has been scheduled for a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said lawmakers “need to talk” to the White House about the easing of the sanctions.
The Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, enacted in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bans imports of Russian crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal into the United States.
–IANS
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