Hi  -- I wanted to share this article from the "Star-Ledger" on the bipartisan effort I’m leading to halt Russian imports of oil and gas into our country. Here is a link to the article and it is pasted below: [link removed].

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks again, and have a great weekend! 
 
Yours,
Josh

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N.J. congressman helps lead bipartisan effort to punish Russia by cutting off oil imports to U.S.

By Jonathan D. Salant | Mar. 04, 2022, 7:30 a.m.

The U.S. would stop importing oil and gas from Russia under legislation introduced Thursday by a bipartisan group of senators and representatives, including New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

The bill, led by Gottheimer and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., in the House and U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in the Senate, represented the latest effort to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

“No more Russian energy should come into the United States for the duration of this bloody, horrifying and unprovoked war in Ukraine,” Murkowski said. “This measure is a direct response to what Russia is doing.”

Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., noted New Jersey’s efforts to cut off support for Russian entities, including Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order to prevent state agencies from doing business with Russian companies and legislation barring public entities in the state, such as pension funds, from having any financial dealings or investments with companies or the government in Russia. The state Senate passed the bill Thursday.

“We have the opportunity to cut off Putin’s largest revenue source, to support America’s own energy independence and security, and to work with our allies to stabilize the global energy market to help us mitigate rising energy costs for our hardworking families,” Gottheimer said.

President Joe Biden and American allies in Europe have imposed other sanctions in response to the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the president so far has spared the oil industry.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said cutting off the supply of Russian oil would send gas prices even higher.

“We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy,” she said Thursday at the daily press briefing. “And that would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people, around the world, because it would reduce the supply available.”

The U.S. imported 337,000 barrels a day from Russia last month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Manchin said that the U.S. could make up the loss of Russian oil by increasing its own production and therefore avoid reducing the worldwide energy supply.

Domestic oil production has increased under Biden, though the 358.6 million of barrels produced last December remains below the 400.2 million produced in December 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.

“We can produce whatever needs to be produced,” Manchin said.

Because of the support it has from members of both parties and in both houses, the bill has a real chance of getting through Congress, Murkowski said.

“This bill is bipartisan,” she said. “This means it actually has sone legs. This is actually something that can make a difference that can get Putin’s attention.”

The idea already has drawn the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“I’m all for that,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a press conference Thursday. “Ban it.”

Congressional Republicans separately have called for ending Russian oil imports, but Rep. Tom Malinowski, who said he supports the ban, questioned whether those demands were good-faith efforts to punish Moscow or rather offered in the hope that it sends gas prices even higher so they can blame the increase on Biden.

“There are some people who are very sincere in urging us to do this because it’s a way of denying Putin more money for its war chest,” Malinowski, D-7th Dist., said Thursday on a Zoom conference call highlighting the support for small businesses in Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law.

“But I think there is also a partisan element to it in the sense that there are there are folks belonging to the other party who would like to push President Biden to put in place an oil embargo and then to blame President Biden for the inevitable increase in gas prices that Americans will face at the pump.”

In a bipartisan effort, Malinowski, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state, teamed up with Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., on legislation to seize assets from Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned for their support of Putin.

The property would be sold and the proceeds used to hep Ukraine.

“It would be fitting and right to use the wealth that supported Putin’s regime to rebuild the country Putin is destroying,” Malinowski said. “The Ukrainian people should see the boats, planes, and villas of Putin’s enablers being seized and sold, and they should know that the proceeds will help their country and cause.”


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 


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| Paid for by Josh Gottheimer for Congress |
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Josh Gottheimer for Congress
PO Box 584
Ridgewood NJ 07451 United States

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