A bipartisan group of 22 House lawmakers is invoking the legacy of the late Senator Lindsey Graham in a new push for President Donald Trump to revoke his administration's Russian diesel authorization, arguing for renewed economic pressure on Moscow. In a letter sent Thursday to Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the lawmakers urged the administration to fully implement the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and revoke General License 135, which authorized transactions involving Russian-origin diesel.
"We are particularly concerned by Treasury's October 9 issuance of General License 135, which authorizes transactions involving Russian-origin diesel, including imports into the United States," the lawmakers wrote. "We urge the Administration to revoke this license and not issue further general licenses that reopen Russian energy transactions and restore revenue to the Kremlin's war chest." The intervention marks a new, more coordinated phase of congressional opposition to Trump's Russia diesel agreement. Republican lawmakers criticized the arrangement individually in the days after its announcement, while several senators joined a bipartisan statement urging the administration to reverse course.
The new letter turns those objections into a formal bipartisan appeal to the president, while tying the lawmakers' case to a sanctions law Trump signed less than a month ago. The White House defended the diesel authorization, telling Newsweek on Thursday that it would increase global supply and lower prices. Democratic signatories include Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Golden of Maine and others.
Several of the Republicans had already publicly objected to the diesel agreement. Bacon said that while Americans needed lower diesel prices, "buying Russian fuel is the wrong answer.” McCaul warned that lifting sanctions on Russian oil could help finance the Kremlin's war effort. Fitzpatrick had separately announced plans to introduce the bipartisan Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act, which he said would block "any and all purchases of Russian oil." Thursday's letter instead asks Trump to revoke the existing Treasury authorization for Russian diesel transactions.
Wilson's participation adds another political dimension. His campaign has publicly highlighted Trump's endorsement, saying it was "grateful to President Trump for his complete and total endorsement." In the endorsement statement Wilson's campaign reproduced, Trump said the congressman had been with his movement "from the very beginning." The lawmakers' request goes beyond objections to the diesel arrangement. They want the administration to impose sanctions on Russian officials, oligarchs, banks and state enterprises, as well as foreign banks, shadow-fleet operators and other intermediaries that help Russia evade restrictions.
"As Russia prepares to wage a fifth winter campaign against Ukraine, the United States has an opportunity to reinvigorate peace efforts by placing maximum pressure on [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and the governments and networks that finance his war," they wrote. The lawmakers also want the administration to explain how General License 135 squares with existing U.S. restrictions on Russian energy. Among five questions addressed to the administration, they asked: "How does the Administration reconcile General License 135 with the existing statutory ban on Russian energy imports, and what impact does it expect the license to have on Russia's energy revenues?" That issue had already become a point of contention between congressional Republicans and the administration.
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