OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Joe Biden is getting roasted by his own party.
Democrat Senator Joe Manchin criticized Biden for paying Russia for oil supplies to meet Americans’ demand.
Biden notoriously shut down the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S, which has been widely condemned as an energy policy that helps Putin and hurt Americans.
The United States imports nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia, according to Fox News.
This amount could have been made up for by the more than 800,000 barrels of oil the Keystone XL pipeline is capable of delivering each day.
Manchin rightfully sounded off, “The entire world is watching as Vladimir Putin uses energy as a weapon in an attempt to extort and coerce our European allies.”
“While Americans decry what is happening in Ukraine, the United States continues to allow the import of more than half a million barrels per day of crude oil and other petroleum products from Russia during this time of war,” he continued.
“This makes no sense at all and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s energy security,” he added.
“The United States can and must ramp up domestic energy production and increase access to our abundant resources and technologies to both protect our energy independence and support our allies around the globe,” Manchin said.
“If there was ever a time to be energy independent, it is now,” Manchin’s statement continued. “I am calling on the Administration and industry partners to take action immediately, up to and including banning crude oil imports from Russia. To continue to ask other countries to do what we can do for ourselves in a cleaner way is hypocritical,” Manchin added of the Biden administration policies. “To continue to rely on Russian energy as they attack Ukraine is senseless.”
“In the coming days and weeks, the strategic value of American energy and what can be done to better position our nation on the global stage will be an ongoing topic in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,” Manchin pledged.
More on this story via Fox News:
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to block the Keystone XL pipeline. With the stroke of a pen, he wiped out thousands of jobs and set the tone for how his administration would approach the U.S. energy industry. The president even doubled down on this strategy by banning new oil and gas development on public land.
And in May of last year—despite his own administration’s report that the company behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline had engaged in activity meriting sanctions—Biden gifted Putin even greater leverage by waiving off sanctions. Simultaneously blocking the U.S. pipeline and green-lighting Russia’s pipeline sent the message that American security would be sacrificed in order to appease European leaders and environmental extremists.
After much delay, and in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has finally relented and took steps in the right direction on financial sanctions. Now, we must keep up the pressure on Putin by eliminating reliance on Russian energy.
And from Townhall:
Senator Manchin is, as with several other issues on which he’s been vocal, right to criticize the Biden administration for its energy policy. The United States absolutely can build and maintain energy independence — we were during the Trump administration. When the U.S. is energy independent, it also helps our allies who come under threat from tyrants around the globe who otherwise have a monopoly on energy for our NATO and other international partners. But by caving to radical climate alarmists and indulging their alternative energy projects, the Biden administration has made the U.S. subject to the whims of tyrants like Putin and put America’s allies in danger of the same.
