Indian-American lawmakers lead Congress backlash over Trump’s Graham Act waiver

Washington: Indian-American lawmakers were among the sharpest voices in a widening backlash in the US Congress against President Donald Trump’s waiver of the tariffs and sanctions in a new law targeting buyers of Russian oil, with a senior Republican senator joining Democrats in condemning the move.

“Trump’s decision to waive new sanctions on Russia should leave no doubt: that is exactly what is happening,” Congressman Ami Bera, a California Democrat, said on X, after being asked whether the administration was abandoning Ukraine.

“My Republican colleagues pushed hard to pass the Lindsey Graham Russia sanctions bill before we left town. They ought to be standing up and screaming at the top of their lungs that we don’t side with Russia,” he said.

Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat, said: “Trump is doing exactly what we warned: undermining Congress’ authority, abandoning Ukraine, and letting Putin off the hook.”

Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a founder of the Senate India Caucus, shared a New York Times report on the order with a one-line comment: “Lindsey would be appalled.”

Graham, the South Carolina Republican after whom the law is named, died in July.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said: “President Trump has once again opted for capitulation to the Kremlin. Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Ronald Reagan must be turning in their graves.”

Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Trump “has had the power to sanction Russia for years. What he lacks is the will.”

“After weeks of pro-Putin policy and this shameful waiver, he deserves a different honor: the Neville Chamberlain Appeasement Award,” Meeks said in a statement posted by the committee’s Democrats.

Congressman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, asked: “What did Putin promise Trump in exchange? That he’d try to influence US elections—again?”

“Immoral imports from Russia won’t help—but will make it harder to roll back Russian aggression,” he said.

Not all the reaction was critical. The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), a US-based group, thanked Trump “for a pragmatic pause” on oil import tariffs under the Graham Act as diesel and energy prices rise amid the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

“With winter approaching, affordable energy & diplomacy must remain priorities,” it said.

Trump’s executive order, signed on October 16, put the law’s duties of up to 100 per cent on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas into effect and waived them in the same order, sparing countries such as India, among the largest buyers of Russian crude.

The order comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to India for talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai on October 20.

IANS