In mid-September, I joined more than 650 other Americans in Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress for aid to Ukraine. My stint in the capital was intense but ultimately rewarding. I felt proud to be part of the Massachusetts delegation from the American Coalition for Ukraine (ACU). We came to D.C. from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, taking time off from work and family obligations and paying our own way there for the chance to speak with our senators and representatives in support of Ukraine.
While many attendees have family in Ukraine, I have three friends there. I’ve come to know these young women as a volunteer with ENGin, a non-profit that matches English speakers with young Ukrainians for online conversations to strengthen their English skills. I want you to imagine the lives my friends are leading. Liubov is surviving in Russian-controlled territory. Iryna’s husband is fighting on the front lines. Ket lives in the capital, Kyiv, a target of Russian jet-propelled drone strikes, day and night.
The people of Kyiv have seen the damage and destruction of more than 4,000 buildings, including office buildings, gas stations, shops, and apartment blocks. Ket lives in a fifth-floor apartment with no nearby subway station or other place to shelter underground. She sends me videos, recorded through her living room window, of her city under siege. You can hear sirens blaring and see smoke billowing from neighborhood buildings in ruins. She sometimes retreats to her bathroom, which is no refuge at all.
It is for these friends, and every brave Ukrainian who has fought back against Russian brutality, that I went to Washington. Their fight must also be our fight: for democracy, global peace, and the rule of law. So our mission in D.C. was to urge Congress to pass the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. Back in August, the Senate passed this bill by a wide bipartisan margin, 86-11. But its passage in the House was far from certain.
The bill, H.R.5334, uses sanctions and tariffs to pressure Russia to end the war. The bill puts the power of law behind existing executive orders. It spells out sanctions against individuals and groups responsible for Russia’s assault and the financial empire fueling it. The bill also directs the president to apply tariffs to the top five purchasers of Russian oil (currently China, India, Turkey, Slovakia, and Hungary), the top purchaser of Russian gas (China), and the top five countries enabling the evasion of existing sanctions (currently China, India, Turkey, and the UAE, with the fifth yet to be determined). The bill mandates a review every 180 days and allows for adjustments, subject to Congressional approval.
Some in Congress argued that the bill would give the president “blanket tariff authority.” This is not so; it grants no broad presidential authority. Others argued that the president could and should impose more sanctions on his own. But Donald Trump has failed our democratic Ukrainian ally and befriended Vladimir Putin instead. It’s time for Congress to show the world that U.S. support is not contingent on presidential whims and that the American people are committed to a peaceful, stable, democratic and rule-based world order.
To no one’s surprise, Putin criticized the bill. While we ACU delegates were asking House members to vote ‘yes,’ Russians, too, were on Capitol Hill, asking them to vote ‘no.’ At the end of our second day of citizen lobbying — after our nearly 460 meetings — the House voted. Some of us were watching the vote from the gallery, fingers crossed; others were glued to our phones. To our immense relief, the bill passed, 262 to 159. To our deep disappointment, our U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern and Richard Neal both voted ‘no.’
On Sept. 18, the president signed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act into law. Three days later, Bloomberg reported that refineries in India were already planning to reduce purchases of Russian crude oil and searching for alternative sources. It seems they’ve seen the writing on the wall. Russia is making nearly $800 million a day from its oil sales, but the new law will reduce both the demand for Russian oil and the price it can command, undermining the Russian war machine.
Recent polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support sanctions on Russia. Now Congress must ensure that this law is implemented and enforced, applying new pressure to force Russia to negotiate an end to the war. There is no time to lose. Ukrainians are dying every day, and another harsh winter looms.
Linda Butler lives in Leeds.