Companion to Sens. Manchin, Murkowski in Senate

Endorsed by Problem Solvers Caucus

Need All-of-the-Above Approach to Domestic Energy 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Tuesday, March 8, 2022, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) applauded the White House’s decision to ban Russian oil imports to the United States, in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

This announcement comes on the heels of Gottheimer and Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1) formally introducing the bipartisan Ban Russian Energy Imports Act in the House yesterday. The bill will ban the United States from importing Russian crude oil, petroleum, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

The Problem Solvers Caucus, made up of 29 Democrats and 29 Republicans in the House, endorsed the bipartisan legislation.

“We can’t subsidize Putin’s war in Ukraine with American dollars. Thanks to our bipartisan, bicameral push in Congress, the Administration is now banning the import of Russian oil to the U.S. The Russians are killing innocent civilians, violating cease fires in refugee corridors, and escalating their horrific war. We need to hit Putin where it hurts,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “This ban gives us the opportunity to stick it to Putin, work with our allies to stabilize the energy market across the world, safeguard our nation’s energy security, and boost America’s energy independence. I’m also glad the Administration recently announced it had reached an agreement with our allies to release 60 million barrels from global oil reserves and our Strategic Petroleum Reserve — to help get gas prices globally down. We’ve now seen existing wells in the U.S. coming back online for the last 18 straight weeks. Also, the overall number of active rigs is up more than 60 percent since the beginning of this Administration. This should all help relieve global gas prices.”

This Administration has approved more oil and gas drilling permits on public lands per month than the last Administration did during its first three years.

By taking an all-of-the-above approach to our domestic energy needs, the U.S. can help eliminate America’s reliance on oil from Russia, terrorist states, and other bad actor regimes — with the goal of becoming energy independent. America must stop funding bad regimes, including Putin’s Russia — and banning Russian oil imports is a step in doing so. It’s time to cut off ruthless dictators like Putin from American dollars.

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