WASHINGTON DC, WA, August 10, 2026 — The Senate this past week wrapped up its pre-recess business with two actions that will influence what the next few months in Washington look like. Some new sanctions against Russia and Iran, and an advance for President Trump’s nominee to head the Justice Department.
Bill With a Name, and a History
The House on Thursday also passed new sanctions against Iran and Russia. They named the measure after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who took on the Kremlin and was announced as the intent of tough economic penalties against Moscow. The new sanctions provide Congress its own lever on Moscow, able to set the terms of its engagement independent of direct White House diplomacy. It was a one-two punch that plays parallel and not instead of the ceasefire talks Trump’s top envoy has been conducting in Moscow.
That timing isn’t incidental. The measure landed in the same window as special envoy Steve Witkoff visited with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting was for nearly three hours of conversations just before a deadline Trump had set for Russia to agree to terms for peace in Ukraine or else face the new sanctions. The threat of sanctions, even if they never come to pass, can only give the administration leverage in negotiations over Ukraine, regardless of what ends up happening with talks in Moscow.
Path for blanche become more clear
Elsewhere, the Senate moved forward in a big way with the confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general. Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, announced he would support the nomination,.The move adds to Blanche’s likelihood of being confirmed even with two other Senate Republicans — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins publicly opposing him.
The loss of Murkowski and Collins — and the resulting narrow Republican majority in the Senate — put the fate of every remaining GOP vote into the must-have category. The move which is precisely why Cassidy’s public pledge was enough to change the dynamic of the nomination as it moved closer to a final vote on the floor.
A Busy Stretch Before Recess
The nominations for the sanctions bill and Blanche were not the only items senators worked through in the final hours before adjournment. The chamber also started weighing the nomination of Matthew R. Byrne, of Ohio, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio. The move set up a closure vote in its path toward confirming him. Senators agreed to a unanimous-consent deal that lets members of the GOP conference sign bills or joint resolutions in a properly enrolled format through mid September. The move labelled a procedural measure that allows for housekeeping on legislation after many senators have left Washington for the recess.
Lawmakers also took time out for some of their strongest ceremonial business, less sacred votes. The Senate passed a resolution designating August 7 as National Lighthouse Day. Also, a resolution supporting the designation of the first week of August as National Community Health Center Week, urging Americans to visit their local health centers. The other resolution recognizes two wildland firefighters for their service.
What It Signals
Collectively, the week’s business on the Senate floor represents a chamber working to knock items off its list of to-dos before recess. Nominations long held up, a foreign policy bill linked with two pressing overseas challenges facing the administration. In addition, the kind of standard procedural housekeeping that most people would never hear of but that keeps the institution operating while most of its members are out of town.
Indeed, the so-called Graham-named sanctions bill will likely continue to be the issue that matters most long after this news cycle has closed. Given how the Witkoff-Putin diplomacy fails over the coming weeks, the sanctions Congress just enacted provides the administration a tool to make use of in the coming months. As the fall legislative session opens up with a midterm election bearing down and an attorney general confirmation battle still unresolved. Whether that alignment lasts and whether the Senate votes in kind is likely to be one of Washington’s most closely watched story lines this fall.
