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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want the Senate to fast-track a Russia sanctions bill as a tribute to Senator Lindsey Graham, who died Saturday night at 71, just days after announcing a White House agreement on the legislation.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Graham, one of the Senate’s leading foreign policy hawks and a staunch Ukraine advocate, died from a “brief and sudden illness” with the DC chief medical examiner preliminarily ruling the cause as aortic dissection, essentially a rupture of the aorta due to heart disease. His death came hours after he returned to Washington from his tenth wartime visit to Ukraine, where he sat down with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and announced that senators from both parties had struck a deal with the White House on the sanctions bill he’d worked on for over a year. The bill, the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, would slap 500% tariffs on any country purchasing Russian oil and gas, and 85 senators had signed on as co-sponsors.

What’s going on now: Following his death, Senator Jeanne Shaheen led the charge Sunday, urging Congress to pass the legislation as a memorial to her colleague. “On Friday, Senators Graham, Blumenthal, Wicker and I announced White House support for our Russia sanctions legislation to help finally achieve peace for Ukraine, which Lindsey described as one of his most consequential efforts,” Shaheen wrote. “There can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the causes he fought for, than to pass this legislation and realize his long-held dream of an independent and secure Ukraine.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who talked to Graham just hours before his death, echoed her: “When we last spoke, he was as enthusiastic and exuberant as I’ve ever seen him. Passing the sanctions bill right away would be a fitting tribute.”

The push is gaining steam in the House too. Representative Mike Turner urged the Senate to move the bill this week, saying, “This bill would be an important symbolism to say, ‘We’re going to be with Ukraine,'” and noting there were “more than a veto-proof number” of co-sponsors on previous versions. “With the White House’s support, this bill could be on the president’s desk this week,” he added.

Representative Michael McCaul said he’d introduce a House version this week. Senator Mike Rounds, who was with Graham at the NATO summit in Ankara days before his death, said Graham “was very proud of the work he was doing” on the bill and “really felt he was making great strides to be able to put it all together when we come back into session this week.”

This all comes as Republicans are suddenly down a seat, shrinking their Senate majority from 53-47, with South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster set to appoint a replacement until January and the state expected to hold a special primary by August 11 to line up a new GOP candidate for November.