While lawmakers in both parties on Capitol Hill want tougher economic sanctions against Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Republicans see one obvious lesson from this showdown with Moscow — the U.S. needs full oil and gas independence.
“Forget Russian vodka,” said U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens. “The U.S. must stop buying Russian energy.”
Months before Russian forces began to march on Kyiv, Clyde and other Republicans were spitting mad about President Biden’s move to stop construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Combine that with anger over higher gasoline prices — plus GOP opposition to clean energy plans from Democrats — and you have a combustible political moment.
“We shouldn’t buy Russian oil when the Russians are bombing innocent Ukrainian civilians,” said U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton.
Earlier this week, six Republicans from Georgia signed on to a letter led by U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Evans, calling for President Biden to restore the Keystone pipeline, and to find ways to increase domestic energy production in the U.S.
“America must once again be energy independent so the world is less reliant on malign actors,” Allen’s group wrote. “Failed policies by your Administration have devastating impacts, both at home and abroad.”
“Biden should bring back our domestic energy production and support our pipelines,” Scott added.
While Republicans make it sound like President Biden is personally turning off America’s oil and gas spigot, government figures tell a different story.
In Biden’s first year in office, U.S. production of crude oil was up 4.4 percent, while U.S. natural gas production jumped 5.6 percent in 2021.
As for Russian crude oil, those imports coming to the U.S. have been declining — going from an average of 761,000 barrels per day in July of 2021 down to 405,000 barrels per day in December.
Like the GOP, some Democrats in Congress are also calling for an end to Russian oil imports — though they have a much different goal in mind.
“We don’t need Russia’s oil and gas,” said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “What we need is American-made clean energy.”
President Biden actually only made passing mentions of clean energy and electric vehicles in Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address, as his climate agenda seems grounded.
But even a little talk is too much for Georgia Republicans.
“Congress must never fund the Green New Deal,” said U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome.
It’s unlikely Biden will reverse his stance on the Keystone pipeline. But could the U.S. ban oil imports from Russia?
“Nothing is off the table,” the President said Wednesday.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and the Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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