(RepublicanInformer.com)- Over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Congress was considering a full-out ban on Russian imports.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden followed that up by announcing the White House would ban all coal, natural gas and oil imports from Russia. While making the announcement, the president also said that this move by his administration could result in higher prices at the pump here — and that certainly already has started.
In making the announcement from the White House, Biden said:
“Today, I am announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy. We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy. That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”
This move was long considered a longshot in response to Russia invading Ukraine. Politicians from around the world have been concerned that banning Russian energy imports would result in huge spikes in prices across the globe.
But, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to step down even after serious economic sanctions have been issued, Biden decided to move forward with this step.
Immense pressure was being put on Biden from both parties in Congress, plus the president of Ukraine.
Now, with gas prices soaring in the United States — raising above $4 a gallon on average for the first time in about 14 years — its’ likely to be used by Republicans to attack Biden and Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
Biden tried to shift the blame for this rise in gas prices to the Russian president, saying it was “Putin’s price hike.” And while he might be right in making this move, the GOP is likely to use it as ammo to attack him and liberals anyway.
The president seemed to understand that this was coming when he made his remarks on Tuesday, admitting:
“The decision today is not without cost here at home. Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump. Since Putin began his military build-up at Ukrainian borders, just since then, the price of gas at the pump in America went up 75 cents, and with this action, it’s going to go up further. I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home.”
This move to ban Russian energy imports is likely to be something the U.S. will do on its own. Many of the country’s allies in Europe have waivered about whether to make this move. It’s not as easy for them to do so, since European nation’s rely on energy from Russia much more than America does.
The United Kingdom, for example, plans to take action against Russian energy, but it plans to slowly phase out oil from the Communist country by the end of 2022.
One way that many politicians believe the U.S. could remove itself from the price hikes caused by foreign energy is to rely much more on domestic oil and natural gas. But, to this point, that’s something the president has refused to do.
