Lawmakers across the political spectrum called on President Joe Biden to impose crushing new sanctions against Russia after President Vladmir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
Some of Biden’s Democratic allies in Congress pressed him to be clearer about America’s response, including advocating that he call Putin’s military actions an unequivocal “invasion” of a sovereign U.S. ally.
“If you know the history of aggressive dictators, you know it’s critical not to lose clarity. Putin is invading Ukraine. Full stop. He’s done it before, and he will do it again if … we don’t impose full sanctions,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted Tuesday.
Himes argued Putin benefits from rhetorical division about whether his ordering of troops into the eastern part of Ukraine qualified as an invasion.
“He’s desperate that we have a confused debate about this today,” Himes added.
The moment for bipartisanship may be short — giving lawmakers only days or weeks to formulate a legislative response before retreating into their partisan corners and lobbing criticism instead of cooperation.
In addition to more sanctions, House Intelligence Committee members were working on bipartisan legislation assessing readiness for the U.S. to provide support for pro-Ukraine independence fighters. And a bipartisan group of senators began working together on an emergency supplemental spending package to help NATO and Ukraine combat Russian aggression.
The White House has been trying to show it is taking the threats seriously. Biden on Monday signed an executive order barring new U.S. investment in, trade with and financing of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions of Ukraine that Putin said Monday he would recognize as independent.
And later Tuesday, Biden is expected to announce that he’s unilaterally imposing additional sanctions, including ensuring the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, connecting Russia with Germany, is halted. That development would be a major economic blow for Russia — and welcome news for some of Biden’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress.
“I’m still hopeful that President Biden will show the backbone that’s been missing all along and we’ll hit Putin where it counts, by restoring the Trump sanctions on Nord Stream 2,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a member of the Armed Services Committee who just returned from the Munich Security Conference, said Tuesday in a phone interview.
Banks, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee and an Afghanistan war vet, called Biden’s executive order “very lukewarm” and something that “misses the mark.”
Capitol Hill remained quiet Tuesday, with members of the House and Senate fanned out across the country and globe due to the Presidents Day recess. But Putin’s provocations sparked a flurry of text messages, tweets and media appearances by lawmakers warning that the U.S. must respond forcefully or risk further aggression and destabilization by Russia and other hostile nations.
“If we do not show decisive strength in this moment, Putin’s aggression will increase,” said Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., a member of the GOP leadership team who also serves on the Armed Services panel.
Lawmakers return to Washington next week, and they are vowing to pass what Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., called a “sanctions regime from hell.” That is something senators failed to agree to last week, instead settling for a joint statement from congressional leaders and a toothless resolution supporting Ukraine and condemning Russian aggression.
“I’d like to go after Putin and his cronies as hard as we can. I would like to make life miserable for Putin and those who support him, because if we don’t, other bad actors [like China and Iran] are going to move quickly in other areas,” Graham told reporters in South Carolina.
“The nightmare scenario is aggression by China, Iran, Russia and others all at once.”
Graham, the top Republican on the Budget Committee and a defense hawk, also said he’s been on the phone “all morning” working with Democrats on an emergency supplemental funding package that would launch a new task force at the Justice, State, Treasury and Defense departments targeting Russian oligarchs.
“I want this task force to go after Putin’s assets personally,” the senator said.
In the House, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., has teamed up with Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on the SUPPORT Act, legislation that will take an assessment of how the U.S. can best assist pro-democracy forces in Ukraine if Russia launches a full-scale invasion and captures the capital of Kyiv. Lawmakers are preparing for a prolonged war.
“First, we need to get ready to assist our Ukrainian friends secure their sovereignty if the Russians invade, and second, we need to send a strong message to the Russians and others that the costs of invading Ukraine will be prohibitive,” Krishnamoorthi told NBC News in an interview Tuesday.
“If the Russians think this Ukrainian misadventure will successfully end in a matter of weeks or a short timeframe, they are sorely mistaken,” he said. “Ukraine has 7 million men of military age, and I believe many will stand and fight, and they will have friends here and elsewhere who will support them.”
