Dem
47
GOP
53
Some members of Congress still hate the godless pinko commies in Russia and want to punish Russia for continuing to kill people in Ukraine. Their problem is that many Republicans are scared witless of Donald Trump and don't want to cross him. But the hawks have a plan. The idea is to add a provision to the upcoming must-pass bill to fund the government that will impose punitive sanctions on Russia.
The leaders of this plan are Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). They are already lobbying their colleagues in both chambers of Congress. If the actual funding bill fizzles, as it so often does, there will be a continuing resolution. The sanctions could be attached to that as well.
Trump is somewhat lukewarm on sanctions, so that is a problem. A stand-alone bill would generate too much attention and he might not like that. Sticking the sanctions in the middle of some other bill where he won't find it might work, though.
Another reason for doing this is that some Democrats want to shut the government down. But if the sanctions are added to the funding bill, Democratic hawks might be willing to go for it.
Graham claims to have 85 co-sponsors so far. However, experience shows that once the call from Trump comes in, sponsors magically turn into opponents of any bill. Still, Trump is somewhat miffed with Russian President Vladimir Putin because he was not willing to listen to Trump when they were in Alaska together. (V)