Congress gave the power to label another country as a state sponsor of terrorism to the secretary of state. Some in Congress, though, say lawmakers could pass a law to make the designation without the State Department, thus pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin on their own.

“There’s no legal reason Congress could not pass legislation to effectively designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism,” a Democratic aide said. “Congress passing legislation is obviously a more complicated route than the secretary making the designation, but it would give the administration the political cover it needs to escalate economic pressure and rhetoric against Putin.”

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), for example, introduced a bill in May that would both underline the Senate’s view that Russia engages in acts of terrorism, but it mainly calls on Blinken to make the designation official. They traveled to Kyiv earlier this month to promote the measure alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who supports the U.S. officially placing the label on Russia. A similar resolution was also introduced in the House.