WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate voted 86 to 11 Friday to pass the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, a sweeping sanctions bill championed by the late senator from South Carolina, and if you are looking for a happier story about bipartisanship this year, you are going to be looking for a while.

The bill, named for the man who spent a lifetime demanding it, imposes harsher sanctions on Russia, extends sanctions on Iran, and — in its boldest provision — sanctions the buyers of Russian oil. It passed with the kind of margin normally reserved for naming post offices, and it was immediately sent to the House, where it is expected to be greeted the way the late senator would have wanted: with overwhelming approval and a brief moment of silence, followed by a longer moment of applause.

Let us appreciate what happened here. Senator Graham spent his entire career trying to get Washington to agree on Russia. He introduced bills. He gave speeches. He warned. He pleaded. And it took his passing to finally get 86 senators to agree on anything. There is a lesson in that, and the lesson is: sometimes the most effective way to get bipartisan consensus is to stop being there to argue about it.

"Some people say sanctions don't work," said a Senate staffer who worked on the bill. "Those people are sanctioned. In a way, they are proof the system works."

The bill’s reach is staggering, and I mean that as a compliment. It sanctions Russia. It sanctions oil buyers. It extends Iranian sanctions. It sanctions, in effect, the concept of buying oil from people we have already told not to sell oil. Some analysts have noted that the bill is so comprehensive it would sanction anyone who buys oil from anyone who has ever bought oil from anyone who knows someone in Moscow — which, the bill’s authors note, is exactly the point. If everyone is sanctioned, no one can claim to have been singled out. That is fairness.

The 86-11 vote is being hailed on both sides of the aisle as a tribute to the late senator’s legacy. Democrats praised the bill’s toughness on Russia. Republicans praised the bill’s toughness on Iran. Both praised the bill’s toughness on oil buyers, a constituency that, until now, no one had thought to be tough on. It is the rare piece of legislation that unites the parties by dividing the world into two groups: sanctioned, and not yet sanctioned.

THE LINDSEY O. GRAHAM ACT: WHAT IT DOES

  • Sanctions Russia: Again. More. With feeling.
  • Sanctions oil buyers: Everyone who buys oil is now, statistically, a buyer of Russian oil. Congratulations.
  • Extends Iranian sanctions: Indefinitely. Forever. Until further notice, which will not be coming.
  • Named for: A man who would have voted for it twice.
  • Vote margin: 86-11. The 11 dissenters are being monitored.
  • Next stop: The House, where it will be treated with the reverence normally reserved for the late senator himself, minus the casket.

Some critics have suggested that sanctions against Russia have not, in fact, ended the war in Ukraine, and that further sanctions may not either. These critics have clearly never read the bill’s title page, which does not include the word “ended” anywhere. The bill does not promise to end anything. It promises to sanction things. And it will sanction those things until the day it sanctions the last thing, and then it will sanction that too.

At press time, the bill had been renamed twice — once to add Senator Graham’s middle initial, and once, in a late-night floor amendment, to add “and Also Some Other Stuff,” which the sponsors said captured the spirit of the legislation better than any summary could.