HR5334-119

What This Bill Does

The Senate amendment completely replaces the House-passed SEED Act, removing its proposed educator-expense deduction for early-childhood teachers. The substitute requires the President within 30 days and generally every 180 days to identify and sanction senior Russian officials, defense suppliers, military supporters, oligarchs, energy-project leaders, shadow-fleet vessels, vessel owners and insurers, port operators, sanctions evaders, and persons receiving transferred assets. Required measures include property blocking, vessel blocking, visa ineligibility, and visa revocation. The Central Bank of Russia receives at least two specified sanctions; Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, other government-owned Russian banks, covered affiliates, and certain transacting foreign financial institutions receive broader asset, account, and related sanctions. The bill blocks Russian state-owned entities, prohibits U.S. banks and securities dealers from processing unlicensed Russian-government transfers, bars Russian-affiliated securities from U.S. exchanges, prohibits new U.S. investment and selected service exports to Russia, restricts energy exports and investment, bans purchases of Russian sovereign debt, penalizes sanctions-circumventing financial-messaging services, and implements Russian uranium restrictions with sanctions on Rosatom leadership. The President must raise duties on Russian goods to as much as 500 percent. Goods from a foreign country that remains among the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil or natural gas, or among the five leading facilitators of Russian oil-sanctions evasion, face duties up to 100 percent. USTR may adjust those duties based on increased or reduced Russian-energy trade, must update covered-country determinations every 180 days, and must justify duties to Congress. The package protects food, agriculture, medicine, medical devices, humanitarian activity, intelligence and law enforcement, treaty obligations, specified nuclear cooperation and uranium, government and U.N. operations, non-Russian oil transit, existing Treasury licenses, 270-day winddowns, vessel safety, NASA, and nondefense space launches. The President may issue a national-interest waiver after reporting to Congress. Sanctions, restrictions, and duties may terminate after a Ukraine-accepted peace and cessation of Russian hostilities, or after a non-Russian target stops the underlying activity and provides reliable assurances, but Congress receives a 30- or 60-day review period and expedited disapproval procedures. The Russia title sunsets after five years. Separately, the bill extends the Iran Sanctions Act from 2026 through 2031 and excludes that extension from the five-year sunset.

Who Benefits and How

The Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian critical-infrastructure operators, civilian communities, U.S. allies, and sanctions investigators gain mandatory reviews, broader asset and visa sanctions, restrictions on Russian state finance, and pressure on foreign military suppliers, banks, ports, messaging networks, and shadow-fleet services. U.S. energy, uranium, defense, and other import-competing producers may gain demand as Russian goods and covered-country imports become more expensive. Humanitarian organizations, food and medicine suppliers, Ukraine-related agricultural agreements, intelligence and law-enforcement operations, NASA, government missions, vessel crews, environmental protection activity, existing Treasury licensees, and specified nuclear or space operations gain explicit exceptions. Congress receives advance notice, tariff justifications, recurring determinations, and an expedited process to review termination decisions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Russian officials, military and intelligence leaders, oligarchs, state-owned entities, banks, Rosatom leaders, energy projects, defense suppliers, shadow-fleet vessels, owners, insurers, ports, sanctions evaders, and foreign financial institutions face blocked property, transaction bans, account restrictions, visa loss, market exclusion, or IEEPA penalties. Russia and covered energy-purchasing countries face tariffs that can reach 500 percent and 100 percent respectively. U.S. banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, investors, service exporters, energy companies, importers, customs administrators, SEC staff, Treasury, State, Commerce, USTR, and the President must screen counterparties, halt transactions, adjust systems, review targets every 180 days, administer licenses and waivers, collect duties, and report to Congress. U.S. consumers and businesses using affected imports may pay more. Early-childhood education workers lose the House-passed deduction expansion when the Senate substitute removes it.

Key Provisions

• Requires recurring property and visa sanctions on senior Russian officials, military supporters, oligarchs, energy leaders, and shadow-fleet networks.
• Blocks Russian state banks and entities while restricting transfers, securities trading, investment, services, energy, sovereign debt, messaging, and uranium commerce.
• Authorizes duties up to 500 percent on Russian goods and up to 100 percent on goods from leading Russian-energy buyers or sanctions-evasion countries.
• Exempts humanitarian, food, medical, intelligence, law-enforcement, diplomatic, nuclear, winddown, vessel-safety, NASA, and nondefense space activities.
• Requires national-interest waiver reports and gives Congress an expedited review process before sanctions or tariffs terminate.
• Extends the Iran Sanctions Act through 2031 and preserves that extension beyond the Russia package's five-year sunset.
• Repeals the House-passed expansion of the educator-expense deduction for early-childhood education workers.