Reagan's name against Trump: Republicans rebel over the Russian diesel deal

It's not just the Democrats anymore — members of Donald Trump's own party have also turned against the deal on Russian diesel. Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the House's Ukraine-friendly caucus, announced on October 10 that he is introducing a bipartisan bill to ban the purchase of Russian oil in all its forms. According to a report by Radio Free Europe, he intends to name the bill after Ronald Reagan, calling it the "Peace Through Strength" Act. Fitzpatrick wrote on X that the bill will be forced to a vote through a so-called discharge petition, and that it will pass by an overwhelming majority. This procedure requires 218 signatures, which allows a bill to be brought to the floor without the approval of the committee or the House leadership. So far, Nebraska Republican Don Bacon has joined as a co-sponsor; no Democratic co-sponsor has been announced yet.

Fitzpatrick did not mince his words: he said Russia illegally attacked Ukraine, is clearly guilty, and that Congress and the American people will stand by Volodymyr Zelensky until Ukraine's victory. This is the exact opposite of what Trump has been saying about the Ukrainian president in recent days. Michael McCaul, Republican from Texas and former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, warned that lifting sanctions could help finance the Kremlin's war machine and encourage even more violence and destruction. He also recalled that the Russia and Iran sanctions law signed in September, named after Lindsey Graham, gave Trump a tool to pressure Moscow and Beijing. Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski — whose state hosted Trump's talks with Putin last year — asked the president to use that tool and not let Russia gain more revenue from diesel exports. According to Murkowski, Moscow's return to the global energy market can be discussed once the war is over, but until then everything that feeds it must be cut off.

The Democrats are citing a law passed four years ago. Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on X that Trump cannot simply ignore the 2022 embargo just to buy diesel from Putin. The law requires the involvement of Congress and a formal review process, and the administration has apparently bypassed both. The 2022 law ending Russian oil imports was passed after the Russian invasion by a vote of 100–0 in the Senate and 413–9 in the House, and it bans the import of Russian oil into the United States unless the president certifies that Russia has withdrawn from Ukraine, recognized its sovereignty, and abandoned threats against NATO. None of these conditions is currently met. According to former Congressman Tom Malinowski, a onetime senior State Department official, under the law Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries could introduce a joint resolution of disapproval, which Congress would have to vote on under an expedited procedure. It remains an open question, however, whether the 2022 ban applies to the temporary license issued for Russian diesel.

The rebellion also faces practical obstacles. Congress will not hold a vote in the coming weeks, the current session ends in January, the bill would also have to pass the Senate, and it could run into resistance from the White House. According to Daniel Balson, advocacy director at Razom for Ukraine, Trump's decision undermines the purpose of the sanctions law passed three weeks ago, which was meant to wean other countries off Russian energy — instead, the president has just increased America's own dependence on it. Independent Senator Angus King said American consumers barely benefit from the deal, while Russia gains a great deal. Ronald Reagan once called the Kremlin an evil empire, and he didn't order diesel from it — he armed against it. Today, a Republican congressman has to invoke his name to defend America from his own Republican president, which says a lot about where the Grand Old Party has ended up.

Disgraceful