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He Died In July. On Friday, The Bill With His Name On It Became Law.
Senator Lindsey Graham died on 11 July 2026, aged 71, hours after flying home from a trip to Ukraine. The Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia gave a preliminary cause of aortic dissection. On 13 July the governor of South Carolina appointed his sister, Darline Graham, to finish his term.
The Russia sanctions bill he had pushed for years then moved without him. Two days after his death, the Senate minority leader asked for it to be brought to the floor "in honor of Lindsey". In August the Senate passed it 86 to 11. This week the House sent it to the president, 262 to 159. On Friday 19 September 2026 it was signed into law as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.
The law lets the president impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that keep buying Russian crude oil or natural gas, targets the "shadow fleet" of vessels used to move it, and extends the Iran Sanctions Act for a further five years.
SOURCES — all footage is C-SPAN, the gavel-to-gavel public record: • "Sen. Schumer calls for passage of Sen. Graham-led sanctions package", 13 July 2026. • "Darline Graham on passing of Russia sanctions bill", 7 August 2026. • "Casket of Sen. Graham carried into U.S. Capitol", 28 July 2026. Reporting: CBS News, NPR, NBC News, Reuters, The Washington Post, Kyiv Independent (July-September 2026).
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
On the 11th of July, Senator Lindsey Graham died at seventy-one. A sudden illness hours after he flew home from a trip to Ukraine
After his sudden, sudden passing yesterday, we see the white roses on his desk and we think of Lindsay.
For years, he had pushed one bill harder than almost anything else in that chamber: sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine
I urge Senator Thune, in honor of Lindsay, to put the sanctions, the Russian sanctions bill on the floor immediately.
In August, the Senate passed it, eighty-six votes to eleven. This week, the House sent it to the president, two hundred and sixty-two to one hundred and fifty-nine
Two days after he died, the governor of South Carolina appointed his sister, Darleen, to finish his term. She took up the bill
piece of legislation that he had ever led and I'm proud to have carried the torch to the finish line.
On Friday, it was signed into law. It carries his name
It lets the president put tariffs of up to 100% on countries that keep buying Russian oil and gas. It targets the shadow fleet that carries it, and it extends the Iran sanctions for another five years
The senator who spent years on it never saw it pass. His sister holds his seat now, and she carried it the rest of the way
