Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the "Prohibiting Corrupt Russian Oil Transactions Act" on the 16th, seeking to block the Trump administration's diesel import arrangement with Russia.
The bill sets out three measures: prohibiting the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) from investing in Russia's energy sector; revoking the general import license already issued by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and barring the issuance of similar licenses in the future; and requiring the government to impose sanctions on Russian energy.
In a committee press release, Meeks said the deal would not lower living costs for the American people and would only send millions of dollars to Putin, letting him "continue massacring Ukrainian civilians with impunity."
The deal stems from the temporary general license issued by the US Treasury after Trump's October 9 phone call with Putin, allowing Russian diesel into the United States and global markets. The bill currently has 17 co-sponsors, all Democrats except Republican Representative Don Bacon.