O'Halleran Supports Ban on Russian Oil

Statement

This week, the House of Representatives plans to vote on a measure to ban the import of Russian oil and energy products in the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take steps to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organization. Congress is also expected to vote to provide $10 billion in humanitarian, military, and economic support for Ukraine and to raise tariffs on Russian imports.

Today, Congressman Tom O'Halleran (AZ-01) announced his strong support for these measures, saying, "Vladimir Putin continues to lie to the Ukrainian people, his own people, and the people of the world; we will not be fooled by his deception. Ukraine has never been a threat to Russia; now, the world watches in horror as innocent Ukrainian women and children are killed in their own streets. The United States and our allies must continue to place the strongest sanctions on Russia to save lives, and these sanctions should include a ban on the importation of Russian oil."

Russian oil accounts for only 3.1% of imported crude oil to the United States per year. To combat rising prices, last month, O'Halleran introduced the Gas Prices Relief Act, legislation that temporarily suspends the 18.4 cent federal gas tax until January 1, 2023.

"While this measure may increase prices at the pump, we cannot in good conscious continue to send billions of dollars to Russia in oil purchases," continued O'Halleran. "We have worked to increase American energy production under our Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act--signed into law last fall--including funding for solar, hydropower, wind, clean energy and electric vehicles, all of which will offset American reliance on petroleum products."

Fast facts prepared by the House Energy and Commerce Committee:

America is now the top producer of oil in the world;
Gas prices in the U.S. are reflective of crude oil prices, which are part of a volatile global market. Even if the U.S. became fully energy independent, it could not fully control the price of oil, because oil is traded in a global marketplace; and
There are over 9,000 federally approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently and half of all existing oil pipelines are going unused.

Source