House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a letter Sunday that the House is planning to isolate Russia, potentially placing a ban on Russian oil and energy.
“Our bill would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take the first step to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organization,” Pelosi said.
“We would also empower the Executive branch to raise tariffs on Russian imports,” she continued.
Pelosi noted that the Biden administration had requested $10 billion for “humanitarian, military and economic support for Ukraine”.
“Congress intends to enact this emergency funding this week as part of our omnibus government funding legislation,” she said.
Earlier this week, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate to ban Russian oil imports. It was led by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Saturday that he would support the bill. “The United States cannot continue to purchase millions of barrels of oil while Putin wages an unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine”.
The “White House signaled on Friday that the president was considering steps to reduce U.S. imports of Russian oil,” reported The Hill.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was engaged in an “active discussion” about banning Russian oil imports.
When asked about the ban, Pelosi said “Ban the oil coming from Russia”. “‘m all for that — ban it”.