The measure, titled the "Banning Corrupt Oil Deals with Russia Act," was introduced by Gregory Meeks, deputy chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to the committee's website.
It would prohibit the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) from investing in Russian energy, annul general licenses issued by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that permit purchases of Russian energy carriers, and ban the issuance of such licenses in the future.
The bill would also oblige Donald Trump's administration to impose sanctions on the Russian energy sector, The Moscow Times reported.
It was co-sponsored by 16 Democrats and Republican Don Bacon. Meeks, a New York Democrat, said the deal "will give Putin millions of dollars to continue the bloody massacre of the Ukrainian civilian population with impunity."
Bacon called Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel fuel "a disgrace" and a display of weakness. According to him, the US should support Ukraine rather than accommodate Putin.
Trump announced the diesel deal on October 9 on his Truth Social network. According to him, during an "extremely successful" phone call with Vladimir Putin they agreed on supplies of Russian diesel fuel to the American and global markets. Russian companies, Trump said at the time, would ship more than 300,000 tonnes "immediately," another 500,000 tonnes in November, 1 million tonnes "right after that," and a further 3 million tonnes later.
The US Treasury issued a general license suspending American sanctions on Russian diesel fuel until April 2027. The Vesti program reported on October 12 that the first batch of Russian diesel had set off from St. Petersburg for the US east coast.
Trump explained that the arrival of Russian diesel fuel on the global market would help lower its prices, which had soared because of the war waged by the US and Israel against Iran.
Earlier, on October 11, Republican Brian Fitzpatrick reported work on a separate bipartisan bill that would ban all purchases of Russian oil. According to Politico, the European Commission has begun preparing a 23rd package of sanctions against Russia aimed at further reducing its oil revenues.