Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Co-Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, tonight voted to pass a ban on imports of Russian oil and energy products into the United States. The measure also calls for a review of Russian access to the World Trade Organization and strengthens provisions of the Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to punish Russia for its attacks on Ukrainian civilians and violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Congressman Cohen wrote to President Biden on Monday encouraging him to order the Russian oil and gas import ban that the President announced Tuesday. Congressman Cohen was also an original cosponsor of the Ban Russian Energy Imports Act introduced on Monday.
The vote on passage this evening was 414 to 17.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement:
“What Putin is doing in Ukraine must have consequences, and cutting off the principal source of revenue financing Russia’s war is the right answer. Although Russian oil provides for only a small percentage of America’s energy consumption, there may be an increase in domestic gas prices but, as Americans, we accept this as the cost of maintaining an international world order based on the rule of law and as the price of protecting the sovereignty of a free and independent Ukraine. In addition, gas prices were already going up before President Biden’s decision to ban Russian imports and were because of turmoil and supply chain disruptions caused by Putin’s war in Ukraine. In a related issue, oil company profits last year were astronomical which is why I have joined Congressman Garamendi and others in asking the Biden Administration to look into potential price-gouging in these circumstances. The bottom line is that we must find a way to end this war and end Putin’s tyranny.”
Congressman Cohen was leading a Helsinki Commission fact-finding and support mission to Eastern Europe when the Russians crossed the Ukraine border, and he has been a harsh and vocal critic of Putin and his army’s inhumane tactics.
Original source can be found here.
