President Joe Biden is weighing an import ban on Russian oil and gas but is falling behind a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, and even some allied heads of state, in targeting Russia’s energy sector.
The average price of gas hit $4.104 on Monday, an all-time high, but the Biden administration has actively stated that the carve-outs for Russian energy components included in Biden’s sanctions packages are designed to protect both the global oil supply and domestic gas prices. One senior White House official pointed the Washington Examiner to comments press secretary Jen Psaki made the previous week on the subject.
‘NO DECISION’ ON RUSSIAN OIL BAN, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“I know you’ve heard me say this a few times before, but we don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy, and that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people or people around the world because it would reduce the supply available, and as simple as less supply raises prices,” Psaki told reporters at Thursday’s press briefing. “That is certainly a big factor for the president. At this moment, it also has the potential to pad the pockets of President Putin, which is exactly what we are not trying to do.”
Still, lawmakers on the Hill are already moving forward with multiple bills banning Russian oil imports.
The respective chairmen and ranking members on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee announced an agreement Monday afternoon on a bill.
“As Russia continues its unprovoked attack on the Ukrainian people, we have agreed on a legislative path forward to ban the import of energy products from Russia and to suspend normal trade relations with both Russia and Belarus,” the group said in a statement. “Taking these actions will send a clear message to Putin that his war is unacceptable and the United States stands firmly with our NATO allies.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been another leading voice calling to ban Russian energy imports.
“Our bill would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take the first step to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organization,” she wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers on Sunday. “We would also empower the Executive branch to raise tariffs on Russian imports.”
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski also introduced a bill in early March that not only bans Russian imports but also boosts domestic production of fossil fuels.
“The world is watching in shock as Russia wages an unprovoked war on Ukraine, killing innocents as it attempts to destroy a fragile democracy. While the Biden administration has taken noteworthy steps to try to convince Vladimir Putin and his regime to stand down, we need an all-encompassing approach that uses every viable tool at our disposal,” Murkowski said of the legislation. “By leaving Russia’s energy exports untouched, the United States is ignoring one of our most potent options to stop the bloodshed. We must ban Russia’s energy imports into the U.S. so that Americans aren’t forced to help finance their growing atrocities and halt the Russian aggression.”
Furthermore, public sentiment seems to indicate that most Americans would be open to banning Russian energy imports. A Monday poll from Quinnipiac found that 71% of 1,374 respondents supported a ban, compared to just 22% in opposition. A similar poll from Ipsos found that 80% of 1,004 respondents felt the U.S. should no longer purchase Russian oil, with three-fifths saying it’s “worth paying more for fuel because of sanctions against Russia to defend another democratic country.”
Pressed yet again during Monday’s press briefing on the subject, Psaki reiterated that “no decision” has been made on whether Biden would even sign a bill banning Russian energy imports into law should it come to his desk.
“Those discussions are ongoing internally and also with our counterparts and partners in Europe and around the world,” she told reporters. “Just to give you a point of comparison, the amount that the United States was importing back in 2021 before the invasion was about 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum. The Europeans import about 4.5 million barrels per day of oil.”
It’s worth noting that the majority of the G-7 and NATO nations who have joined the United States’s sanctions packages have stated they will not target Russia’s energy sector.
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Europe accounts for more than half of Russia’s energy exports, while Russian products only make up roughly 10% of U.S. daily energy consumption.
