Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that his administration will ban Russian oil and gas imports, triggering even higher gas prices in the United States.
“This is a move that has strong bipartisan support in Congress and I believe in the country,” Biden said.
The national average for a gallon of gas is already the highest in U.S. history, reaching $4.17 a gallon on Tuesday.
This move to punish Russia comes after Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy pleaded with U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, and after top Republicans and Democrats in Congress announced a deal on legislation banning the import of Russian oil and other energy products.
“Americans have rallied to support the Ukrainian people and made it clear that we will not part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden said.
“We made this decision in close consultation with European allies, and our partners around the world,” he added.
The U.S., it appears, will be acting alone, as our European allies are more dependent on Russian energy.
“We are moving forward with this ban understanding that many of our European allies and partners may not be in a position to join us,” Biden explained. “The United States produces far more oil domestically than all of the European countries combined. In fact, we’re a net exporter of energy, so we can take this step when others cannot.”
Biden said he has always “leveled with the American people” about the costs of the potential move.
“When I first spoke to this, I said defending freedom’s going to cost. It’s going to cost us, as well,” he admitted.
Biden went on to say that “it is clear that Ukraine will never be a victory” for Russian president Vladimir Putin. “Putin may be able to take a city, but he’ll never be able to hold the country,” he insisted.
Biden did not takes questions following his remarks.
“I know there’s a lot of questions,” he said as reporters shouted out their questions. “But there’s a lot more that has to be made clear, and I’m going to hold on that until we get more information.”
After shutting down oil production in the United States, the Biden administration is now seeking oil deals with communist and terror regimes we previously shunned.
In recent weeks, senior Biden officials have been in talks with both Venezuela and Iran to import oil to the United States.
In a tweet on Monday, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) shared a video of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro proudly touting the resumption of talks with the United States.
“Here it is, as I told you earlier the White House offered to abandon those seeking freedom from #Venezuela in exchange for an insignificant amount of oil & this announcement below from the narco-dictator #Maduro,” Rubio wrote.
Here it is, as I told you earlier the White House offered to abandon those seeking freedom from #Venezuela in exchange for an insignificant amount of oil & this announcement below from the narco-dictator #Maduro https://t.co/9tKX0vknKG
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 8, 2022
Meanwhile, Republicans on Tuesday introduced new legislation called the “No Oil From Terrorists Act” to block the United States from purchasing oil products from Iran,
Republicans argue that the Biden administration should focus on boosting domestic energy supplies rather than funding terrorist regimes. Biden shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline, and oil and gas lease sales from federal lands and waters in his first days in office, citing concerns over climate change.
Neal Crabtree, who was laid off from his job working on the Keystone pipeline, told Fox News on Tuesday that workers could have the pipeline functioning within eight months if the Biden administration would allow construction to proceed.
Democrats are blaming skyrocketing gas prices on Russia, but due to Biden’s energy policies, gas prices were rising well before the invasion.
And as expensive as gas is now, the price is expected to soar even further throughout the year.
“Americans have never seen gasoline prices this high, nor have we seen the pace of increases so fast and furious. That combination makes this situation all the more remarkable and intense, with crippling sanctions on Russia curbing their flow of oil, leading to the massive spike in the price of all fuels: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and more,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at fuel-savings app GasBuddy, said in a statement on Monday.