WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that he is ready to vote on a bill sanctioning buyers of Russian oil — one day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the administration would support a tariff smacking China for its reliance on Moscow for energy .

The bill, co-authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), has been shelved for months as President Trump has sought to settle the Ukraine war with diplomacy, but Thune (R-SD) told reporters that “I think it’s a bill whose time has come.”

“I’m hoping to get it scheduled,” the majority leader confirmed, later adding: “I think we need to move.”

On Wednesday, Bessent revealed that President Trump wants him to pitch Europe on an arrangement that would see Washington and Bru

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