Pappas, Goodlander Snub Shaheen, Side With Warren Wing Against Russia Sanctions Bill

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

As Russia continues its brutal and bloody assault on Ukraine, retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen urged her fellow Democrats in the U.S. House to set aside their anti-Trump politics and pass a tough sanctions bill punishing Putin’s regime.

“Russia is escalating its war, Ukrainian civilians are dying in increasing numbers, Russian energy sales continue to finance Putin’s war machine, and Russia is increasingly testing European and NATO security,” Shaheen wrote to House Democrats on Tuesday. “This is the reality against which Congress must judge this legislation.”

On Wednesday night, Shaheen’s fellow New Hampshire Democrats said no.

Both U.S. Reps. Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas voted against the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, designed to choke off the money funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The measure still passed, 262-159, thanks to 58 Democrats and one independent joining the vast majority of the GOP.

Rather than voting to punish Putin, the two Granite Staters voted with progressive U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as did a majority of their party.

For Pappas, the Democratic nominee hoping to succeed Shaheen in November, the vote highlights the growing political distance between the retiring senator’s more pragmatic approach and the leftward drift of Pappas’ party.

Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged concerns about giving Trump additional tariff authority. But she argued those concerns were outweighed by the urgent need to cut the revenue underwriting Putin’s military.

“Critics argue that President Trump already has authorities he could use against Russia and has chosen not to use them,” Shaheen wrote. “If Congress believes greater economic pressure should be placed on Russia, a President’s unwillingness to exercise discretionary authority is an argument for Congress to act, not an argument for Congress to surrender the field.”

She also rejected claims from fellow Democrats that the legislation gives Trump unlimited power to impose tariffs worldwide.

The bill limits its secondary tariff mechanism to the five largest importers of Russian oil or natural gas and the five leading countries facilitating Russian sanctions evasion, Shaheen noted.

“The Kremlin is watching. Kyiv is watching. Our NATO allies are watching. So are Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang,” Shaheen warned.

It wasn’t enough to persuade her fellow Granite Staters.

Neither Pappas nor Goodlander had released a public explanation of the vote as of Wednesday night, and neither responded to NHJournal’s request for comment.

The Democratic opposition centered on the legislation’s tariff provisions and distrust of Trump. The bill authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the largest buyers of Russian energy, including China and India, and countries helping Russia evade oil sanctions.

Jeffries argued the package contains too many loopholes to guarantee Trump will enforce its Russia sanctions while granting him potentially expansive tariff authority.

“What this legislation will do is give Donald Trump, perhaps, unfettered authority to unleash tariffs on the American people,” Jeffries said during Wednesday’s debate.

The split with Shaheen and other Democratic moderates is particularly notable for Pappas.

Pappas has repeatedly presented himself as a moderate Democrat willing to work across party lines. He is now running statewide to succeed a senator whose political identity was built largely around her centrist politics.

But as his Senate campaign has progressed, Pappas has increasingly aligned himself with his party’s left flank or avoided taking a definitive position on politically difficult questions.

He recently voted against a resolution condemning socialism, voted against anti-boycott legislation backed by pro-Israel groups, and cast “present” votes on both aid to Israel and an impeachment resolution targeting Trump.

The bill was championed by the late Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. It passed the Senate 86-11 in August, with Shaheen voting in favor, while far-left progressives like U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren voted no.

Pappas has been touting Warren’s endorsement of his Senate campaign.

With Shaheen preparing to leave Washington and Pappas asking voters to give him her Senate seat, Wednesday’s vote offered Granite Staters a preview of the change that succession could bring: from a senator willing to disappoint her party to reach a bipartisan result, to a candidate increasingly unwilling to depart from the Democratic line.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.