EXCLUSIVE – Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is teasing a series of votes punishing Russia for the war in Ukraine, calling legislation that cleared a key Senate panel this week part of a “toolbox” of options meant to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
“There may be a point here where we have a ‘Russia week’ where we just end up doing some of this stuff on the floor,” Thune told the Washington Examiner in a Wednesday sit-down interview, mentioning two bills that passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the same day.
One would declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism unless it returns the children abducted in its war with Ukraine, while a second would direct frozen Russian assets to be sent to Ukraine once a quarter.
“A lot of the stuff is bipartisan,” Thune said of the bills, which the Foreign Relations Committee approved by voice vote on Wednesday. Just two panel members, Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT), asked to be recorded as “no” votes.
For months, Thune has signaled a vote could be coming soon on a separate package of sanctions authored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), but the measure has been held up by the White House as it attempts to broker a peace to the Ukraine conflict.
That diplomacy faltered earlier this week, when Trump postponed a tentative meeting with Putin in Budapest, a development Thune said could give new momentum to the sanctions bill.
“Now that this Budapest meeting is off, I think there may be perhaps even more of a window here,” he said, adding that he is speaking “daily” with Graham about the legislation.
The two met twice on Wednesday, Thune said, and again the night before, with Graham serving as a go-between for the Senate and White House. Graham is also a lead Republican on the state sponsor of terrorism bill.
“He’s kind of got a running sense of where the White House is coming from and where we can be helpful, and I think we’re getting to the point where we’re probably going to need to move,” Thune said.
A future Trump-Putin meeting is not out of the question, but the White House has begun to take long-awaited steps to punish Russia on its own, including Treasury Department sanctions announced this week that are separate from the Senate bill.
“We want to make sure that there’s a tangible, positive outcome out of that meeting, and that it’s a good use of the president’s time,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday’s press briefing.
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In the meantime, Thune is deferring to Trump on how best to ramp up pressure on Russia, describing the bills as leverage for the president, should he decide he wants them.
“We’re trying as much as we can to make sure that we’re enhancing the administration, the president, and his team’s success in getting to a peaceful solution there,” Thune said.