Pelosi favors banning all Russian oil imports into the United States

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US oil imports from Russia up 20% over past year

James Freeman, assistant editor of the Wall Street Journal Editorial page, weighs in on U.S. oil imports from Russia and Biden's remarks on taxes that received boos from Republicans during the State of the Union.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she supports banning all Russian oil to the United States amid growing momentum in Congress to find additional ways to cut off revenue streams to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I'm all for that. Ban it," Pelosi said Thursday at a press conference at the Capitol.

Bipartisan members of Congress have been pushing legislation to ban oil imports from Russia and Republicans, especially, have been calling for more domestic oil and gas production in the wake of Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine.  

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"The United States of America, we are importing Russian energy," Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday. "This needs to stop. We are funding Putin's war machine." 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The most recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that in December, the U.S. imported 405,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia or almost 5% of all U.S. imports for the month. That's down from about 800,000 barrels in August. 

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The largest exporters of energy to the United States are Canada and Mexico. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking to the media during a joint news conference with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban following their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. Putin says the U.S. and its allies have ignored Russia's top security demands. In his first comments on the standoff with the West over Ukraine in more than a month, Putin said Tuesday that the Kremlin is still studying the U.S. and NATO's response to the Russian security demands received last week. (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP) (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP)

While supporting a Russian oil ban, Pelosi didn't agree with reopening federal land to oil and gas drilling – which President Biden sought to ban at the start of his presidency. 

"I'm not for drilling on public lands," Pelosi said. 

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As gas prices skyrocket across the country, Pelosi said the price of oil "is directly related" to what is happening in Ukraine. She downplayed the pain at the pump in comparison to the war Ukrainians are enduring.

Thousands of protesters supporting Ukraine gathered in Washington D.C.  (Fox News Digital/Lisa Bennatan)

"I heard a parliamentarian from Ukraine today saying, 'Our people are being killed, our country's being overrun, and people are complaining about paying a little more for the price of gas.' Well, we don't want people to have to pay a little more for the price of gas," Pelosi said. 

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Pelosi also expressed caution at an effort to implement a gas tax holiday – a break from the 18.3 cents per gallon federal tax – saying that legislation would need to have language to guarantee the savings would be passed down to consumers and not hoarded by the oil companies for more profit. 

"That would be a path that we can take," Pelosi said of the gas tax holiday.