{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=9219", "Beyer: This Bill Would Do More Harm Than Good For America And For Ukraine", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Donald S. Beyer, Jr.", "B001292", "beyer.house.gov", "beyer", "https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), the Senior House Democrat on Congress\u2019 Joint Economic Committee and a member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, delivered a stark warning against the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia And Iran Act during floor debate on the measure ahead of a final vote this afternoon.\n\nHis remarks as delivered follow below, and video is available here.\n\n\u201cMr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this well-intentioned but terribly flawed bill.\n\nAll of us on our side of the aisle strongly support Ukraine.\n\nBut this bill would do more harm than good for America and for Ukraine.\n\nIt has three main points: sanctions, tariffs, and symbolism.\n\nThe new sanctions on Russia in this bill would be strong and sweeping, if they were enforced.\n\nBut the bill gives Trump the power to simply ignore them, and that is what he is very likely to do.\n\nHis criticism of Ukraine and friendliness to Russia have both been rising recently, and he is even calling for Russian energy exports, the very thing this bill is purported to block.\n\nThe bill\u2019s tariffs are a huge problem.\n\nPresident Trump has abused every presidential tariff authority \u2013 every single one \u2013 that Congress has given, often to target our allies.\n\nThis bill has a loophole that would allow him to define basically any country as a facilitator of evading Russian sanctions.\n\nHe could then hit them with tariffs of up to 100%, with no guardrails or oversight, and no expiration. It\u2019s a much stronger tariff power than those he has already abused, and it would be much harder to challenge in court.\n\nGiving him this power when he has shown us over and over again what he will do with it would be an incredible mistake.\n\nAnd finally, we are told the bill will be a symbolic win for Ukraine and a show of American support.\n\nBut if this bill passes, I predict Ukraine\u2019s supporters will regret it.\n\nYes they will be able to say \u201cwe stood with Ukraine,\u201d in the immediate aftermath.\n\nBut when Donald Trump hits our allies with new tariffs and waives sanctions on Russia, the propaganda victory for Putin will be lasting, and the damage will be embedded in U.S. law.\n\nMeanwhile the Ukrainian cause will be tied to Trump\u2019s widely hated tariffs \u2013 deeply unpopular in America already, and further stressing Americans\u2019 pocketbooks [which] is not good for Ukraine\u2019s long term.\n\nWe can do better, and the House has passed a better bill.\n\nWith negotiation and compromise, we can pass a stronger bill that truly supports Ukraine and tightens the economic screws on Russia without harming Americans.\n\nI urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided bill so we can pass a better one.\u201d\n\nRep. Don Beyer serves as Senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, chairs the New Democrat Coalition\u2019s Trade Task Force, and serves on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.", 1, "2026-09-17T09:52:05Z", "2026-09-17T09:53:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=9219"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7054039742797613, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}