Several Democrats joined Republicans to pass the Russia sanctions bill, but critics warn Trump could use broad tariff authority against allies.
Page F3From§Eachthe late evening edition — 16 September 2026
THE BLANK CHECK
House passes bill pronounced dead two weeks ago, named for the senator who died, handing Trump blank-check tariffs.
As it ran on the front
The filing on this one runs eight and a half months back to front, hon, so let's walk it in order.
On September 2nd, the House had this bill in a drawer marked dead. The Hill reported no urgency from GOP leadership and Democrats holding the line, with Speaker Johnson not scheduling a floor vote. Same date, the Washington Examiner's editorial page — not exactly a left-wing filing cabinet — ran a piece agreeing Russia should face tougher sanctions and specifically asking Congress not to hand President Trump "another blank tariff check." Also on September 2nd, the bill was already being filed under the name of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who, per the wire, had announced a deal with the White House and died one day later. The paperwork marking his death predates the paperwork marking his own bill dead. That's not a metaphor. That's the filing date.…
…(cont) Secretary Rubio weighed in that same week, telling the House that Democratic caution over broad presidential authority was itself a gift to Putin. Nine days after the bill was declared dead, the House Rules Committee scheduled it. Six days after that, on Wednesday night, the House passed it — with Democratic votes, per CBS, over Democratic opposition, per the same wire, which is its own reconciliation problem I'll leave to the House parliamentarian.
What passed is the sanctions everybody agreed on, plus the tariff authority the sanctions supporters specifically flagged as a separate ask. Fox News's own writeup names the concern: broad power critics warn could be turned on allies as easily as adversaries — the same power a Republican paper warned against two weeks earlier. Nobody amended that clause out between the warning and the vote. The bill got a bigger name. It did not get a smaller check.
So the ledger, dated: dead bill, September 2nd. Dead senator, before September 2nd. Warning against the tariff clause, September 2nd, in a Republican paper. Bill scheduled, September 11th. Bill passed, September 17th, tariff clause intact, senator's name on the cover.
Everybody involved got exactly what they asked for two weeks ago, except the one thing somebody asked them not to hand over. That part didn't survive the markup. The rest did.
“They needed two weeks to find time for a floor vote, but they found the time to put a dead man's name on the bill before they found the nerve to read what else was in it. That fine print is the blank check their own newspaper told them not to sign — tariff power over whoever Trump decides to tax next, no separate vote required. Ask the guy holding the invoice when the price on steel or lumber or whatever's next jumps: somebody signed his name at the top, and it wasn't him.”
“Look, this is bipartisan — Democrats voted for it too, that's on the record. Secretary Rubio said the holdup was helping Putin, so if anything the delay was the problem, not the — wait, are we saying the House was helping Putin? No, forget I said that. It's a sanctions bill, tough on Russia and Iran, the tariff piece is just a tool in the president's kit, nobody's talking about using it aggressively — why would I even reach for that word.”
The receipts
The bill was championed by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly just one day after announcing a deal had been reached with the White House to move forward.
The House passed a Russia and Iran sanctions bill championed by late Sen. Lindsey Graham Wednesday night.
· Russia sanctions bill ‘dead again’ as it hits House roadblocks from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Sanction Putin’s war machine — just don’t hand Trump another blank tariff check from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Rubio urges House to pass Russia sanctions bill now — says Dems’ Trump paranoia helping Putin from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· House to take up Russia sanctions bill next week from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.