A bill introduced by Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez on Wednesday would solidify a ban on Russian planes from entering U.S. airspace as a way to penalize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime for its invasion of Ukraine.
“We can’t continue to play ball with the Russians. They’ve gone too far, and they need to know they’ve gone too far,” Gimenez told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
The bill would formalize executive actions taken this week.
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President Joe Biden announced during his State of the Union address on Tuesday the United States was banning Russian aircraft from entering U.S. airspace, following similar actions from the European Union and Canada. The Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration put the order into effect on Wednesday.
Gimenez planned the bill before Biden announced the executive ban.
Russia is expected to retaliate by banning U.S. planes from their own air space.
“That’s fine with us,” said Gimenez, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Miami was one of Russian airline Aeroflot’s four U.S. destinations, serving Gimenez’s South Florida district.
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Gimenez was happy to see Biden ban Russian aircraft, but he wants to see more.
“I’m disappointed that he didn’t talk about energy at all” in the State of the Union, Gimenez said. “We need to be energy independent. Also, we need to start looking at in what way we could supplant Russia as an energy provider to nations around the world, thereby denying [Putin] that revenue, which he uses to fund his war machine.”
