HOW IT STARTED: “Under my plan, energy costs will necessarily skyrocket…” And a few months later after then-presidential candidate Barack Obama muttered the above words, a similar phrase was said to journalists: Steven Chu, Obama’s then-incoming energy secretary, told the Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2008: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”
How it’s going: Biden Set to Ban Russian Oil Imports under Bipartisan Pressure.
The Biden administration is expected to announce a ban of Russian oil imports as early as Tuesday, according to several reports.
The U.S. ban, which will cover liquefied natural gas and coal, would come without European participation, Bloomberg News reported. The decision was made in consultation with European allies, the report adds.
However, the U.K. is also expected to announce plans to ban the import of Russian oil on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported. The U.K. ban will include a months-long lead-in time to allow the global market to adjust and to dissuade people from panic-buying gas, officials told the outlet.
President Biden’s daily schedule was updated on Tuesday to include remarks from the White House at 10:45 a.m. announcing “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
Biden faced bipartisan pressure to ban Russian oil and even stalled a bipartisan bill to do so, Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich reported. The House Ways and Means Committee worked all weekend in a bipartisan manner to develop a bill, she reported. The White House then asked Ways and Means Democrats not to move forward on the bill. Sources reportedly told Heinrich the White House did not want to seem as though it had been boxed in by Congress on the issue.
Bloomberg News confirmed that Congress forced the administration’s hand on the Russian oil ban. Biden officials believed that it would be a “bad look” and asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold off on the bill, according to the report.
But if only an ethical source of oil was available:
If only:
Who could have seen this coming?!
Trump in 2020: "If Biden got in, you'd be paying $7, $8, $9. Then they'd say 'get rid of your car!'"
Pete Buttigieg this week: If gas prices are too high, just buy an electric car! pic.twitter.com/6xGcptsKD3
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 8, 2022
Related: The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.