Representative Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation on Friday, Oct. 16, to prohibit the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s commercial diesel agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The draft measure, titled the “Prohibit Corrupt Russia Oil Deals Act,” aims to dismantle the administrative mechanisms facilitating Russian petroleum transactions, mandate sanctions against the Russian energy industry, and restrict federal financial backing for related enterprises, according to an official announcement by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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The legislative initiative explicitly prohibits the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) from investing in Russian energy projects, revokes all related general licenses issued by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and restricts executive agencies from issuing comparable sanctions exemptions in the future.
Meeks stated that the commercial agreement does not alleviate domestic economic pressures for American citizens, arguing that consumers are confronting elevated costs resulting from the administration’s military conflict with Iran.
Concurrently, the senior lawmaker warned that opening US and global markets to Russian diesel provides Moscow with critical hard-currency earnings that sustain military strikes against Ukrainian civilians.
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“At a time when the United States should be increasing pressure on the Kremlin, Donald Trump is cozying up to Putin and striking self-enriching deals instead of standing with Ukraine,” Meeks said in a statement.
“This goes against everything the United States stands for. Congress must act. Every Member of Congress who claims to be outraged by this should join in passing this legislation.”
Bipartisan congressional pushback against energy accommodations
The introduction of Meeks’ bill accelerates a coordinated bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill to challenge the administration’s commercial accommodations toward Moscow.
The move follows legislative action initiated earlier in the week by Republican Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick and Don Bacon, who began drafting the “Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act” to establish a comprehensive statutory prohibition against importing Russian oil and refined hydrocarbons.
Lawmakers across both parties have criticized the administration for providing financial lifelines to the Kremlin’s defense sector while Ukrainian civilian and municipal energy networks face sustained long-range bombardments ahead of the winter heating season.
Under the framework announced by the White House following an Oct. 9 telephone call between Trump and Putin, Russia agreed to deliver commercial diesel fuel onto international markets through 2027. To facilitate the shipments, the US Treasury Department issued a general license authorizing transactions involving Russian diesel through April 7, 2027.
The commercial pivot drew immediate pushback from Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelensky characterized the timing of the arrangement as a “smokescreen” while Ukrainian and European negotiators were conducting multilateral peace discussions with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami.
Executive suspension of Graham Act sanctions
The legislative drive arrives immediately following Trump’s signature on Friday, Oct. 16, of an executive order waiving major statutory sanctions and trade tariffs targeting the Russian Federation just 48 hours before they were scheduled to take effect.
The presidential waiver suspended key enforcement mechanisms enacted under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which Trump signed into law on Sept. 18.
The statute had established severe economic penalties designed to cut off revenues underwriting the Russian war effort, scheduled to enter into force on Sunday, Oct. 18.
Among the measures suspended by Trump’s order were an additional 500 percent tariff on all Russian-origin imports, alongside mandatory 100 percent duties targeting the five largest global purchasers of Russian oil and natural gas, such as China and India.
The waiver also suspended secondary tariffs on the five leading nations identified as facilitating the evasion of Russian petroleum sanctions, while halting prospective enforcement actions against Moscow’s maritime “shadow fleet” of tankers.
In the executive order, Trump asserted that waiving the Graham Act’s trade restrictions and duties aligned with US national interests, defending the step as necessary to manage global energy benchmarks.
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