One of the big debates raging in Washington right now is whether to sanction Russian oil imports to the United States. The idea has gained steam among a wide range of people with varying political backgrounds as a way to actually hit Vladimir Putin where it really hurts.
My thoughts on the matter are a little more nuanced (I support sanctioning Russian oil, but only if the Biden administration allows more domestic production to offset it on the global market). Still, the general consensus seems to be that stifling Russia’s oil industry is the most effective means of making him feel the pain of his decision to invade Ukraine.
But the White House is not part of that consensus. Jen Psaki announced on Friday that they will oppose a popular, bipartisan proposal in the Senate to ban Russian oil imports.
This is a replay of the White House’s rush to lobby for Putin against Ted Cruz’s sanctions bill, which would have nuked the Nordstream 2 pipeline prior to Russia’s invasion. Now, despite all that has taken place, the Biden administration is still bending the knee. At what point do even mainstream media outlets start asking why the president and his handlers are so subservient to Putin? That’s mostly rhetorical, but you get the point.
As to the idea that banning Russian oil imports would hurt American families, that’s actually true in a vacuum. But the administration has the tools to change that, possibly even bringing down prices lower than they were at the beginning of the year. That would help American families, but it would require that Biden stop placating the climate change hysterics by greenlighting pipelines and more oil and gas leases.
Is that going to happen? Of course, it’s not going to happen. Instead, the White House is going to gaslight everyone by claiming that gas prices have only risen because of the situation in Ukraine.
Everyone reading this has been alive long enough to have seen the gradual increase in gas prices over the last year. All the while, the Biden administration has nuked pipelines and frozen federal leases, exacerbating the problem that is now slamming the poor and middle-class. And for what? To “save” the climate? No one actually believes that pumping oil in Russia is somehow better for the environment than pumping it in the United States. That has never made sense. The greens and the politicians who do their bidding would choose people dying of exposure and wind turbines covering every square mile of the United States if it meant they got to harm the oil companies. In the end, their stubborn position is just about partisan politics and valuing ideology over common sense.
And congrats, you get to pay the price so Biden can pretend he’s saving the planet. Meanwhile, Putin gets richer and Ukraine gets invaded. Does any of that sound like a good deal to you?