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A top Republican lawmaker has criticized President Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel, saying the president may be breaking the law and warning the White House it could lose his vote on military and year-end funding unless it reverses course.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Last week, Trump made some news when he announced a deal with Putin to get Russian diesel flowing again amid skyrocketing energy prices. According to Trump, the deal will see Russia supply 300,000 tons immediately, 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons after that and another 3 million tons down the line, roughly 4.8 million tons total. To make this happen, the Treasury lifted sanctions on Russian diesel through April 2027 despite a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports. Even so, some have downplayed the deal’s significance, noting that the US goes through about 3.7 million barrels of diesel and heating oil a day, meaning the first shipment covers less than a single day of demand and the full deal works out to about 10 days’ worth spread over months. One oil analyst called it a “nothing burger.” Meanwhile, the deal could bring Russia $4.5 billion, which will likely be used to fund its war effort against Ukraine.

What’s going on now: Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the deal could violate the 2022 import ban, which Congress has never changed. Pressed on whether the president is actually breaking the law, Tillis didn’t back down: “I believe that he may be.”

He also said the deal is “tarnishing” the legacy of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose Russia sanctions law Trump signed just last month. Tillis warned that it “absolutely will” put American lives at risk and blamed high fuel prices on the Iran war and Putin rather than Ukraine.

Tillis later joined a bipartisan group of seven senators, including Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John Curtis, in a statement saying the administration never consulted Congress, which the law requires, and “must immediately reverse course.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back, saying anyone in Congress who claims the law prohibits the deal “is wrong,” while Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso defended it as Trump making “tough decisions” to bring costs down.

This all comes as diesel prices sit above $6 a gallon just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms, and as Tillis, who is retiring in January, has become one of the few Republicans willing to openly break with Trump.