- Thursday, March 17, 2022

There are good reasons to sanction the Russian oil and gas energy, just not the way the Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress have chosen.

In fact, for some time I have encouraged the Biden regime to employ sanctions on Russian energy imports to the United States, provided U.S. energy companies are immediately unleashed to explore, develop and extract.

America is buying more than $70 million worth of oil and gas from Russia every day, while also providing hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to Ukraine. The United States is effectively funding both sides of this war.

Ending dependence on Russian oil is overdue.

While the legislation recently passed by Congress has a great title, Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act, the language of the bill and the context in which it is passed makes the goal illusory.

Under former President Donald Trump, the United States was energy-dependent. President Biden killed that and made us reliant on imported products from Russia.

The rationale for ending the importation of Russian oil is not to assert American energy dominance, it is to stop America’s funding of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

A noble goal, except that America remains energy-dependent. And, Mr. Biden is reportedly negotiating to replace Russian oil with two anti-American, Russian client states, Iran and Venezuela.

As we buy oil from these two ruthless regimes, we will still be funding Russian aggression. Iran and Venezuela purchase goods from Russia, including weapons.

The U.S. will still be funding Russia, only our money will be laundered through two of the most American hating regimes in the world. We will effectively still be funding Russia’s invasion.

To add to the confusion of our relationship with Russia is the recent employment of Russia to act as an intermediary between the U.S. and Iran as Mr. Biden inexplicably renegotiates the dangerous Iran nuclear pact known as the JCPOA.

If we are treating Russia as an enemy, then why are we trusting it in negotiations with Iran? What is our exposure?

Add into the mix of America’s burning need to reignite our oil and gas sector. Mr. Biden issued multiple regulatory orders and has plugged our extraction and development of American resources. His shortsightedness has killed our energy sector and fueled inflationary pressure by creating a domestic scarcity of energy resources.

Like most Americans, I am content to stop funding the Russian invasion by preventing the importation of Russian oil, but it is unwise to prevent America from using all its resources.

Stopping importation squeezes Russia, but the better strategy is to jumpstart our energy sector. That’s a double win — penalize Russia while benefiting U.S. consumers, businesses and families.

The recent legislation not only has contextual issues, it has process issues as well. It gives Russia funding of $130 per barrel of oil (pre-invasion it was around $65). It allows Mr. Biden to waive the sanctions with the only potential check coming from the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Additionally, the standard was eased concerning the ability of the president to financially threaten other nations and their leaders if they do not comply with the president’s idea of human rights and social justice.

For instance, the new language in the bill could be construed to allow the president to pressure nations that prohibit abortion. That completely obliterates the purpose of the law that exists today.

Yes, Russia is a bad actor and has carried out a ruthless attack on Ukraine. Yes, America needs to sever its dependence on Russian oil, but not to send laundered U.S. dollars to Russia via hopelessly authoritarian regimes like Iran and Venezuela.

And, giving Mr. Biden a chance to waive sanctions on his cronies is just nutty.

Next time the Biden administration and Congress want to issue sanctions let’s not just close the front door, let’s close the backdoor as well. And, we should make sure that America is benefited by our sanctions.

• U.S. Representative Andy Biggs represents Arizona’s 5th congressional district.

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