Bipartisan pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to end all Russian oil imports and sanction Russia’s energy sector as President Vladimir Putin continues to escalate the war in Ukraine.
While the administration moved quickly to put economic pressure on Russia — cutting it off from global financial markets in a matter of days — Putin’s military assault shows no signs of stopping. Heavy bombing and missile strikes targeting civilian infrastructure have created an alarming humanitarian crisis. In response, angry US lawmakers from across the political spectrum are publicly urging the administration to hit Putin where it hurts the most: imposing sanctions on Russia’s massive energy sector. They also introduced several proposals in the last few days that would end Russian oil imports to the US during this crisis. “If the current sanctions were enough, that 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks wouldn’t be headed to Kyiv as it is now. Time is short. We need to act now with more resistance,” Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday at a crowded GOP news conference calling for energy sanctions. In a sign of bipartisan appeal, the top House Democrat responded enthusiastically when asked about the idea by a reporter on Thursday. “I’m all for that. Ban it,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly policy news conference. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois told CNN on Thursday that he hopes more Democrats continue to align behind sanctioning Russia’s energy sector. “I think there’s a way to do it that can put pressure on them. It just infuriates me to think that we are dependent on Russian gas and oil,” he said. But the administration remains concerned over inflation and already-high gas prices, which could skyrocket if President Joe Biden takes this step. So far, Biden has maintained that nothing is off the table when it comes to putting pressure on Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine. A Democratic lawmaker who supports sanctioning Russian oil exports said the White House faces a difficult decision because of the potential ramifications, like how it could roil the energy markets, driving up gas prices domestically. There’s also a political dimension at play because Republicans have been hammering Biden and other Democrats on climbing gas prices for months. While Republicans also called for the President to take this step, the lawmaker said, there’s no reason for the White House to believe that GOP attacks on gas prices would stop because of new Russian sanctions. Bipartisan support for blocking Russian oil imports, but a divide on next steps While there is now significant bipartisan support to cut off oil imports, Republicans and Democrats have different opinions on how to deal with the unavoidable impact on American oil prices, views that reflect long-held policy debates about domestic oil and gas production. According to the American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers trade association, roughly 3% of US crude imports came from Russia in 2021.
