After Announcing Ban on Imports of Russian Oil, Biden Says He’s ‘Off to Texas’ to Talk with Veterans but not Oil Companies

Earlier today, President Joe Biden announced that he was banning imports of Russian oil, gas, and energy. Gas prices have already reached all-time highs in America, before this announcement.

Biden warned, “Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump since Putin began his military buildup on Ukrainian borders, and with this action, it’s going to go up further. I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home and coordinate with our partners.”

Later in the speech, Biden justified taking this action without other NATO countries doing the same with, “The United States produces far more oil domestically than all of Europe combined. In fact, we’re a net exporter of energy, so we can take this step when others cannot.”

Biden reminded the American people, “I said I would level with the American people from the beginning, and when I first spoke to this I said, ‘defending freedom is gonna cost, its gonna cost us as well in the United States’, Republicans and Democrats alike understand that.” Biden then cited that both Democrats and Republicans in office have called for the ban on Russian oil imports.

The failing “as many see him as” President Biden then talked about the more than “one billion in security systems” sent to Ukraine, as there are daily shipments of arms being delivered from the United States. Biden also made sure to say “We will keep our NATO commitment” while addressing the NATO nations that border Russia, citing article 5 of the NATO agreement.

He then announced that “the United States will share in the responsibility of caring for the refugees so the costs do not fall entirely on European countries boarding Ukraine.”

Biden addressed claims that his administration is holding back oil production in the United States. “Let me be clear, about two points. It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production, that’s simply not true. Even amid the pandemic, companies in the United States pumped more oil during my first year in office than my predecessor’s first year.” Biden then jumps to the unused drilling permits that have been approved, something his administration refers to often.

The pro-green energy President took the opportunity to add, “loosening environmental regulations and pulling back clean energy investment won’t, won’t, will not lower energy prices for families, but transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles powered by clean energy, with tax credits to help American families to winterize their homes to use less energy, that will, that will.”

Biden concluded his speech with, “and now I’m off to Texas thank you very very much”. He didn’t announce to the media why he was headed to Texas but it has been on his agenda.

Biden headed to Fortworth, Texas after his speech to meet with veterans and their caretakers, to talk about respiratory cancer that is believed to have been caused by burn pits, something that may have contributed to the death of Biden’s son Beau. Burn pits were used to incinerate all sorts of waste, hazardous material, and chemical compounds at military sites throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can see his full address below:

There doesn’t seem to be any plans for Biden to meet with any gas and oil executives to discuss the unused permits or oil production in the United States.

Bloomberg reported that the American Petroleum Institute is claiming that the Biden Administration is “misusing facts”:

The Biden administration has repeatedly pointed to the number of approved but untapped drilling permits on federal land when questioned about how U.S. production can rise, and what the federal government can do to help.

“There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the administration as to how the process actually works,” Sommers said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. 

“Just because you have a lease doesn’t mean there’s actually oil and gas in that lease, and there has to be a lot of development that occurs between the leasing and then ultimately permitting for that acreage to be productive,” he said. “I think that they’re purposefully misusing the facts here to advantage their position.”

Sommers said the Biden administration should support policies that promote U.S. oil and gas production over OPEC+, which includes Russian oil. The U.S. and its allies are considering banning imports of Russia crude after the country invaded Ukraine.

We are all feeling the pain of price increases of oil at the pump. There doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight and no one knows for sure how high prices will go. Many people fear that we are headed to World War III but nothing is very clear and what will happen next as things seem to change day to day.