The Russia sanctions bill is fanning new tensions between the House and Senate as Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) calls on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to pass the legislation first.
Three senior House GOP aides, granted anonymity to speak candidly, described being surprised Wednesday after Thune suggested the Senate would wait for the House to act now that President Donald Trump has given his blessing to the sanctions bill.
Until this point, Senate Republicans have taken the lead on discussions with the White House, they argued, and were expecting Thune to schedule a vote once the president was on board. Two sources said the Senate, not the House, should move first on the bill.
“It’s the House’s understanding that the most practical avenue to get this accomplished is for this to originate in the Senate,” one of the House GOP sources said.
Thune said Wednesday that leadership was still discussing how to send the bill, which punishes Russia through tariffs and secondary sanctions, to Trump’s desk and that he believed House action made the most sense because revenue legislation originates in the lower chamber.
Joining him are Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee who publicly called on Johnson to pass the bill “immediately” after Thune’s remarks.
The House aides counter that Thune has revenue bills available to him, with one source pointing to a Taiwan tax measure currently before the Senate Finance Committee.
Johnson has yet to weigh in on the question of timing. He discussed a path forward with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), the lead House co-sponsor, on the floor Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
Fitzpatrick has a discharge petition that would force a vote and previously advocated passing it as part of a government funding deal.
The Russia sanctions bill is nonetheless becoming an unwanted point of friction between the two chambers. Johnson and Thune have already had two policy disagreements this week over the handling of the Epstein files and a separate measure that would allow senators to sue the Justice Department over phone surveillance.
Thune acknowledged the disagreements on Wednesday while downplaying the notion that there is an emerging rift.
“I think sometimes there are differences of opinion or disagreements that are partly related to the difference between the House and the Senate — they’re different cultures — but in the end, the speaker and I talk regularly, we communicate on a consistent basis, and we are unified in terms of our objectives and goals,” Thune told reporters.
The House is preparing for a vote regardless of which chamber goes first. A senior House aide told the Washington Examiner that the White House-approved bill text has now been shared with the chairs and ranking members of all relevant committees.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the lead Senate co-sponsor, has also been in touch with the White House as details are finalized and said there was a call on Wednesday with lawmakers in both chambers.
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The legislation, which targets Russia’s energy sector, has gone through multiple iterations as Trump demanded more flexibility to waive the penalties. Lawmakers have pitched the legislation as a way to give the White House leverage as it seeks a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
As of Thursday, it has 85 Senate co-sponsors and more than 110 in the House.