Hoyer says Russian gas ban is worth political cost

Democrats pressing ahead with the ban on Russian fuel imports are quietly wary of the political blowback sure to follow if domestic gas prices increase, which is likely, and Republicans blame President Biden for the rise, which is certain. 

Yet despite the risks heading into November’s midterm elections, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the more important consideration is helping Ukraine defend itself from an unprovoked Russian assault that’s already killed hundreds of civilians and aims to topple the government in Kyiv.

“Yes, our majority is on the line,” Hoyer told reporters on a press call. “But what’s on the line, really, is freedom, sovereignty, the world that operates consistent with international law.”

Democrats, even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were facing tough odds of keeping the House in the midterm elections. And their prospects will only worsen if prices at the pump spike further as a result of the new fuel ban, which Biden announced Tuesday morning.

Biden acknowledged there could be repercussions in the form of higher costs in the United States and Europe — a warning Hoyer echoed a short time later. 

“It’s [our] understanding that it’s going to be some economic costs to us, there are going to be economic costs to the Europeans,” Hoyer said. 

But he added that “American citizens are prepared to respond vigorously.”

“There was no justification for Putin’s actions,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden’s ban on Russian fuel — oil, gas and coal — came after days of spirited debate over the wisdom of taking a step that could have immediate blowback effects on the U.S. and other Western economies. Proponents saw it as the last best chance to punish Putin, and perhaps convince him that the costs of his siege of Ukraine were too high to maintain. 

After initially opposing the idea, Biden endorsed it on Tuesday, announcing the new sanctions regime as “another blow to Putin’s war machine.” 

The risks — both economic and political — have been evident long before the announcement. Gas prices at the pump in the U.S. have been rising steadily for weeks, and hit a historic high on Tuesday.

Republicans have responded by blaming the Biden administration for what they view as a short-sighted domestic energy agenda that forces the U.S. to import fuel from abroad, even if the exporter is a despotic regime like Putin’s Russia. They’re pressing Biden to open more federal lands to drilling, rather than seeking to replace the Russian fuel with other imports. 

“After banning the import of Russian energy, the United States should unleash domestic production so that we can be the world’s energy arsenal, instead of allowing our adversaries like Iran or Venezuela to step into this void,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Tuesday. 

Democrats have fought back in defense of their White House ally, noting that new drilling would take months or years to have an effect on prices at the pump. They’re also accusing Republicans of politicizing the issue at the expense of Congress’s united front in confronting Putin in Ukraine.

“It’s certainly my hope that my Republican colleagues won’t continue to play politics with an existential crisis for Ukraine, for Europe, for the West and for democracy because that is what is at stake right now,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), head of the House Democratic Caucus. 

“Putin is the one responsible if gas prices increase significantly here in America,” he added. “And [Republicans] shouldn’t provide any aid and comfort to him, a brutal dictator. We know they have practiced doing so because Donald Trump did it for four years.”

Outside of the Beltway, the oil ban is a rare issue that’s united Americans across the political spectrum. A new Wall Street Journal poll, released Tuesday, found that a whopping 79 percent of respondents favor the ban, including 72 percent of Trump supporters. 

Given numbers like those, Democratic leaders are hoping that whatever backlash occurs at the polls will be a muted one.

“The American people are overwhelmingly behind Ukraine,” Hoyer said, “and taking actions necessary to assure that the free world does everything to keep a free nation free.”

The House was expected to vote Tuesday on its own legislative version of the Russian fuel ban, which also included several other sanctions provisions. That plan was scrapped because Democratic leaders were unsure they had support from two-thirds of the chamber — the threshold required to fast-track bills through the chamber on the suspension calendar.

Instead, Democrats want to attach the ban to the rule accompanying a larger government funding bill, known as an omnibus, that’s expected to pass through the House on Wednesday.

Cristina Marcos contributed.