By Darragh Roche *
Seventeen members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a ban on energy imports from Russia on Wednesday night. The vote followed President Joe Biden announcing a ban on imports of the country’s oil on Tuesday.
Two Democrats and 15 Republican members of the House voted against the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act, but the bill passed by 414 votes to 17.
The legislation was introduced in response to Russian forces’ attack on Ukraine and would impose a ban on the import of oil, coal and natural gas from Russia, which is a major energy exporter. However, the bill may not be taken up by the Senate and Biden’s ban on Russian energy imports is separate from it.
Democratic Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota voted against the bill on Wednesday. They were joined by 15 of their Republican colleagues.
The Republicans voting against the energy ban were Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Bill Posey of Florida, Chip Roy of Texas and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.
The legislation is separate from the Biden administration’s ban on Russian energy imports and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi decided to proceed with a vote on the bill despite Biden’s action.
“We’ve been talking about doing the Russian ban for a while. And we’re so pleased that the president has done that,” Pelosi said. “But you’re here in a legislature. This is a democratic process where people weigh the equities, express their views.”
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