While Democrats are currently exploiting anti-Russian sentiment in the wake of Putin invading Ukraine, when given the opportunity to flex some muscle against Russia earlier this year, they flat out rejected it.
Back in January, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill that would have imposed sanctions on businesses connected to Russia’s natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Senate Democrats denounced the bill as a mere political gesture that they say would have harmed relations with European allies.
“The vote on Cruz’s measure sanctioning operators of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was 55-44, short of the 60 it needed to pass,” the Associated Press reported on January 13. “While opposition from the Democratic-controlled House and President Joe Biden meant it had little chance of success, Republicans used the opportunity to portray Democrats as timid in standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops are massed along Ukraine’s borders as he demands concessions from the West.”
Fast-forward to today, some Democrats in Congress are now calling on Biden to ban imports of Russian oil in the hopes of convincing Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine.
“It is so obviously apparent that we need to cut it off,” Sen. Jon Tester, (D-Mont.), told NBC News on Wednesday. “I wonder if there’s a reason we haven’t [and] what the hell the reason is.”
Oh, I have a few ideas.
“We should stop buying over 600,000 barrels [of Russian oil] a day in America,” agreed Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-W.Va.). “Can you believe that? No one knew that. No one paid attention to it. And that has to stop.”
Despite calls from some Democrats to punish Russia, there is actually some division in the party about the move. Republicans, however, are fairly united and are not only calling for sanctions, but also for Biden to reverse course on domestic drilling and the Keystone XL pipeline.
“We’ve got to cut off the oil. It’s going to supply Vladimir Putin’s war machine,” Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser says. “We’ve got to restart the Keystone pipeline. Call it the Biden Build Back Better pipeline — I don’t care. But we need the pipeline.”
Democrats had the chance to hit Putin where it hurts months ago… It wasn’t until after Russia invaded Ukraine that some of them decided it was actually okay to do so.
Cowards.
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