Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
Senator Calls for Needed Lethal Aid, Increased Sanctions on Russia & Expanded U.S. Energy Production
WASHINGTON – Following Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s address to Congress, Senator John Hoeven outlined additional actions the U.S. can take to support Ukraine and counter Russia’s aggression. Specifically, the senator stressed the need to:
- Provide the necessary lethal aid for Ukraine to defend themselves, as President Zelenskyy’s requested. This includes aircraft, air defense systems and stinger missiles, among other equipment.
- Increase sanctions on Russia, including strong sanction on banking and energy.
- Expand U.S. domestic energy production to support the security of America and its allies, reduce reliance on adversaries like Russia and diminish a key source of revenue for the Putin regime.
“President Zelenskyy is showing real leadership, and the people of Ukraine are doing a tremendous job as they bravely defend their nation,” said Hoeven. “The U.S. can and should expand our efforts to push back against this unprovoked attack on Ukraine. We need to provide needed military equipment for Ukraine to continue to defend itself. At the same time, we need to put the greatest amount of pressure possible on the Putin regime, which can be accomplished both through increased sanctions and by expanding U.S. energy production to further isolate Russia from the global economy. To this end, the Biden administration needs to take the handcuffs off our energy producers, enabling them to utilize America’s vast energy resources to strengthen the security of the U.S. and our allies and cut the revenue going to the Kremlin.”
Providing Aid & Imposing Sanctions
Hoeven recently helped introduce the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act, legislation that provides critical support to Ukraine to defend itself and imposes immediate sanctions on Russia to inflict real costs on the Kremlin. Further, the senator has urged the Biden administration to allow the transfer of Soviet-era fighter aircraft from Poland to Ukraine and sponsored legislation to ban the U.S. from importing Russian energy and remove Russian fuels from American supply chains.
Expanding U.S. Energy Production
Among other efforts, Hoeven introduced legislation that takes immediate action to increase U.S. energy production and reduce reliance on Russian energy. This includes:
- Authorizing the construction and operation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Removing regulatory hurdles to increase liquefied natural gas exports.
- Prohibiting any presidential moratoria on new energy leases.
- Requiring the U.S. Department of the Interior to hold a minimum of 4 oil and natural gas lease sales in each state with land available for leasing in fiscal year 2022.
- Prohibiting the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy from drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until the Secretary of the Interior issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.
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