Joe Biden has given in to widespread pressure to stop taking oil from Russia, due to their invasion of Ukraine.
QUICK FACTS:
- President Joe Biden is to stop the import of Russian oil following intense pressure from Congress, POLITICO reported.
- Both Republicans and Democrats have put pressure on the president to ban Russian oil, despite concern that it could send the price of gas through the roof.
- Supporters of the move hope that they can enact the ban at the same time as their European allies, causing more pressure on Russia to end their incursion into Ukraine.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with the U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports from their enemy, Russia.
BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR THE MOVE:
- The White House said Biden would announce on Tuesday “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
- “Symbolically, the idea that we’re funding [Russian president Vladamir] Putin’s war machine and, quite frankly, genocide that we’re seeing on the television, that has to stop,” Republican U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul said on CNN, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February according to The Texas Tribune.
- “The Biden administration’s efforts to unify the entire world against a murderous tyrant in Moscow should not be undercut by propping up a dictator under investigation for crimes against humanity in Caracas,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement late Monday.
- “The recent events in Ukraine are yet another example of why we should be selling energy to our friends and not buying it from our enemies,” Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt wrote to Biden, according to ABC News.
BACKGROUND:
- Currently, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. hit a record $4.17 Tuesday, up by 10 cents in one day, and up 55 cents since last week, according to auto club AAA, as reported by The Associated Press.
- The rise in price, however, was referenced as due to the conflict and “anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector,” indicating that it could just be a jumpstart on the increase Americans were bound to see due to the conflict.
