Source: United States Senator for Ohio Rob Portman
March 31, 2022 | Press Releases
Senator Portman joined The Hugh Hewitt Show this morning to discuss what more the U.S. and NATO allies can do to help Ukraine win its war against Russia. Portman noted specifically that our European allies need to join the U.S. in cutting off oil and natural gas sales which are the main source of funding of Vladimir Putin’s war. The administration has frequently taken anti-fossil fuel positions, and Portman has repeatedly urged the president to not stifle domestic oil and natural gas production that could help our allies and address high energy costs here at home. Senator Portman also said he encouraged President Biden to work with both Republicans and Democrats to get things across the finish line instead of pursuing partisan legislation that, in the case of their $1.9 trillion stimulus, increased inflation and hurt working families.
A transcript of the interview can be found below and you can also listen to the interview here.
PORTMAN ON THE NEED TO WIN THE WAR
“We need to do more, and we need to do more quickly. I was actually on the Polish border about two weeks ago and lo and behold there were Ohioans there helping the refugees — you may know some of them Andy Futey – and what they were doing is helping to deal with the crisis at the Polish border. What they were really focused on was how can we do more to keep Vladimir Putin and the war machine from wiping out cities in Ukraine and destroying homes, and killing innocent civilians, and what they are thinking is the United States and other NATO allies would provide more surface to air missiles to counter these artillery attacks particularly coming in at night on these cities. They can win it on the ground and that is what they are really asking for. So, its planes, it’s anti-aircraft systems, it’s anti-ship systems – enabling them to win this war.”
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“I have talked to him [President Biden]. I took the last delegation into Ukraine which was probably a month ago now – five weeks ago now. It was just before the invasion and when we got back, to his credit, he did call us into a classified setting and had a discussion with us. It was a small group, there was four of us. So, I have had some discussions like that.”
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You know we can do much more on sanctions. We can put more banks under the SWIFT international transaction ban. The most important thing right now is to get them more weapons. And second, is to stop this natural gas and oil sales to the rest of the world, because that’s what’s funding it. Almost 50 percent of their budget is funded with oil receipts. Almost 50 percent. That’s the biggest sanction, and we have still not turned off the pipes and stopped bringing in the natural gas and stopped buying the oil.”
PORTMAN ON KEEPING WEAPONRY OUT OF TERRORISTS’ HANDS
“This is an allied country; we have trained their military. One reason they are doing so well, frankly, is we did provide that training. They are our strong and trusted ally – government to government. So it’s a very different situation – not saying that we shouldn’t be concerned about it, but it is a very different situation. Second, they are actually winning on the ground. In other words if these drones, by the way we are only providing 100 Switchblade drones, they’re suicidal drones, meaning they attack one target and that’s it, so we need to do more of that in my view. Including providing some more sophisticated drones for use against ships, which we have apparently, which would be similar but larger. So I think it’s in our interest to have Vladimir Putin lose and to have the Ukrainian people and freedom win.”
PORTMAN ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ENERGY POLICY
“So, I didn’t serve with him in the Senate, because I was in the House then. But I have known him off and on, and obviously, watched him in action as Vice President. I wouldn’t say we are friends, but I would say that he’s a different Joe Biden in some respects. He is more progressive on policy issues including energy issues, which is related directly to this crisis because unless we can provide countries around the world—including countries in Europe who depend on Russian oil and gas—more help in terms of our energy, which we have plenty of, then they will continue to feed the war machine, because the number one receipt that Vladimir Putin gets every day is from these countries that buy his oil and gas. We were spending as you know, about $50 million bucks a day on average for oil from Russia, which is crazy, but they are sending much, much more in countries like Germany. So we need to make that transition. And, Joe Biden doesn’t seem be able to get away from the progressive kind of anti-fossil fuel rhetoric from the campaign to be able to actually provide that important energy resource and therefore a national security resource.”
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“This is an opportunity for him – particularly on energy, an opportunity to say, ‘Ok we are for all-of-the-above – including renewables, including nuclear, including hydrogen, and all the new technologies, but right now there is absolute imperative that we produce more of our own energy, both to get prices down in America and other energy prices.’ But also, again this is directly related to this conflict. If we can tell the Europeans and others ‘look we are going to back you up’ with some of this LNG they are far more likely to stop their dependency and stop sending money to Russia.”
PORTMAN ON ENCOURAGING PRESIDENT BIDEN TO WORK IN A BIPARTISAN WAY
“I don’t think he is looking particularly for advice from Republicans right now. I think he is trying to figure out how to keep Democrats on board. He met yesterday as I understand it with the Progressive Caucus as well as the more centrist caucus in the House and got different advice from each. His poll numbers are relatively low. He is looking for support from his base. He should be saying instead here we are with a war on our hands and the ability to work across the aisle in this instance is clear. We have been very bipartisan in how we have approached this – Republicans and Democrats alike want to stand up for Ukraine, for freedom and against tyranny and what Putin is doing.
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“What I said to him was, ‘you have an opportunity here.’ As you know, as I said in relation to the COVID relief, when they ended up going with their own legislation, going it alone, spending almost two trillion dollars; it was the largest legislative ever passed. I went down there to the White House with other Republicans who were willing to work with him and said we can come up with something here that makes sense and doesn’t break the bank and focuses just on COVID. Most of that two trillion by the way did not focus on COVID, and as a result you know we have a 40-year high in inflation. We have an economy that’s struggling because peoples’ waging aren’t keeping up with that inflation. And you know that’s an example, energy is another example. So I’m frank with him. I have talked with him about opportunity for us to do what he said he wanted to do during his campaign because as you recall he ran as the moderate. It was Bernie Sanders who was the progressive and yet he’s governing like Bernie Sanders after someone who campaigned as someone who wanted to reach across the aisle to get some things done.”
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