One GOP Senator just introduced a piece of legislation that would stop the United States from importing oil from Russia, Fox News reports.
The legislation was introduced on Tuesday by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS). It is in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to Fox, the bill “would specifically block the importation of petroleum and petroleum products from Russia.”
So far, Marshall has earned the backing of at least seven other Senate Republicans. Among the Republicans supporting the bill is Sen. John Barrasso (R-PA), the GOP leader of the Senate Energy Committee.
Background
President Joe Biden and his administration have announced various sanctions against Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. What Biden hasn’t sanctioned is Russian energy, which commentators have argued would likely be the most impactful.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has claimed that the reason that Biden hasn’t sanctioned Russian energy is that it would have too much of a negative impact on Americans. Roughly 3% of America’s oil imports come from Russia.
Any negative impact that a sanction on Russian energy would have could be compensated for by the Biden administration allowing more gas and oil production on U.S. land. But, so far, the Biden administration has made it clear that it is not willing to sacrifice its climate agenda to slow Russia down.
Psaki, though, has recently said that sanctioning Russian energy isn’t off the table.
A “shameful” truth
What this all means, as Marshall has pointed out, is that the U.S., in a way, is funding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “First and foremost, President Biden needs to restart America’s energy production and quit funding Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine by continuing to purchase crude oil from Russia,” Marshall said.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is one of many Republicans who has expressed his disgust with this situation. He said:
It’s unbelievable that we’re allowing this it happen. We are actually financing their efforts to kill Ukrainians. It’s shameful.
Jackson also pointed out that Russia is making “over a billion dollars a day in oil revenue selling their oil.” And, a good portion of the money comes from Europe, which imports 40% of its oil from Russia.
It is this that has helped Russia to fund its invasion of Ukraine, and it is this that Marshall, with his bill, is looking to put an end to.
