NEW DELHI: A Democratic US lawmaker has called for a review of US arms sales to India over allegations of transnational repression, even as a revised Russia sanctions bill backed by late Senator Lindsey Graham has gained the support of more than 60 bipartisan co-sponsors in the Senate.
The call was made during a congressional briefing titled India's Transnational Repression: Implications for US National Security, held at the Cannon House Office Building on July 14.
The event was organised by Equitas Forum USA along with several advocacy groups, with support from the office of Democratic House member Summer Lee.
In recorded remarks, Democratic House member Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, described India as a repeated perpetrator of transnational repression and urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review India's eligibility for US arms sales under the Arms Export Control Act.
"More must be done to ensure that no person in this country lives in fear of a foreign government's threats," McGovern said, while calling for the passage of the bipartisan Transnational Repression Policy Act.
Meanwhile, former Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer Daniel Stanton said hostile states were increasingly using organised criminal networks to intimidate diaspora communities.
"Transnational repression must be recognized early as a pattern, not as a series of isolated incidents," Stanton said.
The remarks coincide with the introduction of the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026. The proposed legislation has attracted more than 60 bipartisan co-sponsors.
The proposal, unveiled on July 14, 2026, is a scaled-down version of the Sanctioning Russia Act, first introduced on April 1, 2025, which had proposed tariffs of up to 500%.
Supporters have presented the revised legislation as part of the legislative legacy of Senator Graham, who died on July 12. The Bill has received support from Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Roger Wicker, as well as Democratic Senators Adam Schiff and Kirsten Gillibrand.