The White House is not interested in banning Russian oil imports warning of price increases for Americans.
“We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy and that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people around the world because it would reduce the supply available,” said Jen Psaki on Thursday. “And it’s as simple as less supply raises prices, and that is certainly a big factor for the president at this moment. It also has the potential to pad the pockets of President Putin, which is exactly what we are not trying to do.”
Senators Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski presented legislation on Thursday to ban Russian imports.
And Nancy Pelosi is ready.
“The United States has the ability to backfill and help all of our allies around the world as they [Russia] use this energy as a weapon,” Manchin said at a press conference Thursday. “We have to make sure that we’re doing ours [energy production]. We do it cleaner than anybody else. We do it in a better fashion anybody else. And we have the ability with a reserve to do much more during this crisis.”
The U.S. imported an average of 405,000 barrels of oil and petroleum products products from Russia everyday in December 2021. Russian oil accounts for about 10% of U.S. oil imports.