Fitzpatrick, who co-chairs the pro-Ukraine parliamentary group in the House [Ukraine Caucus]announced his decision in a post on the X platform, in which he criticized the peace plan proposed by the Donald Trump administration.
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Who filed the petition for sanctions against Russia?
What sanctions does the bill propose?
When does Congress return to session?
How many signatures are needed to pass the initiative?
“This Russian propaganda must be rejected and ignored for its frivolous nonsense. Today we officially notified both the Secretary of the House of Representatives and the House leadership of our petition to force a vote on crushing sanctions against Russia immediately upon our return,” the politician wrote.
Trump blocks the project
Congress went on break on Friday for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and will return to session on December 1. For the congressman's initiative to succeed, it must obtain the signatures of the majority of House members, i.e. 218 of them. Additional sanctions on Russia are supported by the vast majority of politicians in both houses of Congress – in the Senate, 85 out of 100 senators have already expressed support.
Fitzpatrick, together with another Republican congressman and two Democrats, is a co-author of a bill providing for high tariffs and sanctions on countries purchasing Russian raw materials and a number of other restrictions on the Russian banking and energy sectors. This bill, like a companion Senate bill by Lindsey Graham, has not been taken up since April due to opposition from President Donald Trump. Last Sunday, however, Trump signaled that he had nothing against these bills.
Senate Republican leader John Thune said on Wednesday that he was ready to move forward with the bill, but added that it should first be adopted by the House of Representatives. On Friday, however, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the quickest way would be for it to leave the Senate.
As of Friday, Congress had not taken any concrete steps on the matter. Despite increased rhetoric from Republicans, some Democrats expressed skepticism that the bill would be passed. — For now, we only have words. Only after Thanksgiving will we know whether action will follow, a Democrat involved in talks on this topic told PAP.
