Jeanne Shaheen urges Trump to activate sanctions on Russian oil as Congress moves to close loopholes

Senator Jeanne Shaheen wants the White House to stop giving Russia’s energy sector a free pass. The New Hampshire Democrat has been pressuring President Trump to use his existing sanctions authorities against Russian oil and gas, arguing that current policy amounts to a financial lifeline for the Kremlin while it wages war in Ukraine. At the center of the dispute is Treasury General License 134, a sanctions waiver that critics say has allowed Russia to continue earning massive revenue from energy exports. Shaheen, alongside Senator Elizabeth Warren, has argued the license enabled Russia to collect roughly $150 million per day at its peak, a figure that adds up to over $4 billion cumulatively. The money pipeline To understand why this matters, consider the math. Russia derives more than 50% of its total national revenue from oil and gas sales. That makes energy exports the single most important financial artery keeping the Russian state funded and its military operational. Shaheen’s push isn’t happening in a vacuum. It reflects a broader congressional frustration with what lawmakers on both sides of the aisle see as an insufficiently aggressive approach to economic pressure on Russi...