Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for the additional time. The Biden administration's refusal to implement strong sanctions against the pipeline not only removed deterrents before the full-scale invasion and invited Putin's invasion of Ukraine, but also allowed parts of Europe's dangerous reliance on Russian energy to continue until Putin's tanks had already rolled across Ukraine's borders. Rescinding the license would encourage our allies' efforts to rid themselves of reliance on Russian energy sources. It makes no sense to fund a needed resistance against Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine while also allowing Russia to fill its war machine coffers through its sale of energy to the rest of the world. Biden can't have his cake and eat it too. It is just ridiculous. He cannot pursue a radical anti-fossil energy climate crusade at home and hope to keep energy prices low. Similarly, he can't keep the flow of Russian crude on the world markets to bolster global supply while reducing Moscow's revenues through an unenforceable price cap. The only way to truly punish Moscow and deprive Putin of the financial support he needs to materially--to prosecute the war is by removing the general license on the energy-related transactions facilitated by sanctioned Russian banks. I urge my colleagues to support this rule. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”