ICYMI: Ranking Member Shaheen Champions the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act in New Video

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a video explainer on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. Senator Shaheen emphasized the bill's mandatory sanctions on Russia's leadership and energy sector, its narrowly targeted tools that hit the funders of Putin's war machine hardest and the urgency of cutting off the funding fueling Russia's war. Ranking Member Shaheen has also been among the bill's leading champions, appearing recently across multiple national media outlets and delivering a speech in support of the bill on the Senate floor. Key quotes from the explainer video and those media appearances are included below.

Click below to watch the explainer video on the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act:

Key Quotes from Senator Shaheen's Explainer Video

• "The bill hits Russia's energy and financial sectors very hard. The bill would implement new sanctions on the central bank of Russia, on state-owned projects like Arctic LNG, and on the Shadow Fleet, the fleet of tankers that Putin uses to dodge sanctions."
  
  
• "It goes after the funders of Putin's war machine. The bill authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from a very narrowly targeted group of countries, the countries that are bankrolling the Putin war machine through their purchases of Russian oil and gas, especially China."
  
  
• "Vladimir Putin only understands strength, and he only responds to pressure. This legislation represents our best opportunity to finally bring Russia's war machine to its knees and to force Putin to the negotiating table."
  
  
• "As President Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of members of Congress just this week, Ukraine needs this bill."
  
  
• "Republicans and Democrats are getting behind this legislation to send an unmistakable message to the Kremlin. Time is not on their side, and America will always stand with Ukraine. The time to act is now."

Other Quotes from Senator Shaheen on the Legislation

• "The momentum is with Ukraine. Russia's economy is being hit hard, their oil infrastructure is under attack by Ukrainian drones, and they are losing over 30,000 casualties a month in Ukraine. The more pressure we can put on Putin now, the better chance we have to end this war." (NPR)
  
  
• "This Russia sanctions bill is a one-two punch that's really going to put pressure on Putin. It comes at a time when there's real momentum on behalf of Ukraine. Russia's losing over 30,000 casualties a month in Ukraine. This is a real opportunity to get Putin to the table." (CNN)
  
  
• "Our Russia sanctions legislation narrowly targets the biggest purchasers of Russian oil and gas that are funding their war machine. If we can put more pressure on Putin, we can get him to the table and end this war." (@SenatorShaeen on Instagram)
  
  
• "Our Russia and Iran sanctions legislation is narrowly crafted to address the top five users of Russian oil and gas and to protect our allies who are making important efforts to get off Russian gas. We must cut off the revenues that are funding Russia's war machine." (CNN)
  
  
• "It matters because what we need to do is cut off the money that is funding Russia's war in Ukraine. And that's what this legislation would do. It targets the top five users of Russian oil and gas. It targets their shadow fleet, and it would shut down the funding that they get from those, in addition to sanctioning their financial sector and oligarchs and others in Russia who are helping to fund the war." (FOX News)
  
  
• "If we can shut down the funding that Russia is getting, then we can put pressure on Vladimir Putin to come to the table. And what we heard from President Zelenskyy last night when he met with over half of the Senate was that Ukraine needs this bill." (FOX News)
  
  
• "Lindsey talked about this as one of the most important pieces of legislation he had ever worked on, and to be able to advance it with a bipartisan vote last night of 86 to 12 is really a tribute to all of the work that he and Dick Blumenthal have put into this bill." (FOX News)
  
  
• "One of the benefits of this Russia sanctions bill is that China is the biggest user of Russian oil and gas. And if we sanction them, we shut down their ability to get cheap oil and gas from Russia. And that has an impact on their economy." (FOX News)
  
  
• "One of the benefits of addressing what's happening in Ukraine, addressing the funding that Russia's getting from selling their oil and gas cheaply to countries like China, is that it has an impact on what's happening in the Middle East as well. And so that would be good news for everyone." (FOX News)
  
  

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