WASHINGTON – Kansas U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall Tuesday responded after President Biden announced a ban on the U.S. purchase of Russian oil.
(Click below to watch President Biden's comments)
Ahead of the State of the Union, Senators Moran and Marshall joined other lawmakers in sending a letter to President Biden calling for an embargo on Russian energy and introduced legislation that would ban the import of Russian oil.
“My colleagues and I made clear the United States cannot continue subsidizing Russia’s aggression by purchasing Russian oil,” said Sen. Moran. “Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine must be a wake-up call to the Biden administration to maximize home-grown energy and not diminish American energy independence. We need an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence, and it can’t be accomplished without enabling our oil and gas producers to play a larger role.
Banning the purchase of Russian oil is a good first step, but now President Biden must immediately reinstate the keystone pipeline, allow for new drilling leases on federal lands and waters, and retreat from proposals that would install burdensome regulations and tax increases on domestic oil and gas producers. Until we take these actions to unleash American energy, gas prices will continue to rise and we will remain reliant on our adversaries for energy production.”
“I applaud President Biden for taking this important step, but similar to sanctions on Russia and aid delivered to Ukraine, he is once again late to act. After spending billions to finance Putin’s war on Ukraine, the President must immediately redirect efforts to restart America’s energy production. An announcement to restart the Keystone XL Pipeline would drop the price of oil tomorrow alone,” said Sen. Marshall.
“Under the previous Administration, our nation was energy independent but President Biden reversed course and turned hostile nations like Russia into America’s gas station. Now he’s turning to Iran and Venezuela. Joe Biden always talks about the importance of buying American – it’s past time he actually follows through and buys into American energy.”