TEMPLE, Texas — The United States is no longer buying Russian oil and President Joe Biden said Tuesday it would cut a main artery of the Russian economy.
"We're banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy," Biden said in remarks from the White House. "
Wednesday, Triple-A said the average price of gas in the U.S. has reached a new high of $4.25.
In his remarks Biden pointed to U.S. production as an advantage according to NBC.
"The United States produces far more oil domestically than all of Europe," said Biden, who said the U.S. is a net exporter of energy. "We can take this step when others cannot, but we're working closely with Europe and our partners to develop a long-term strategy to reduce their dependence on Russian energy as well."
At the same time, it's clear the United States in not ready to replace that supply of oil which accounted for between 9 and 10 percent of U.S. supply.
6 News spoke to U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions about rising gas prices on Wednesday. Session's said the U.S. is now looking for gas from countries we previously avoided.
"The administration oven the weekend began negotiating with Iran and Venezuela, two countries that do not have America's best interest, rather than looking to American products," Session said.
When 6 News asked Sessions what the U.S. should do next in order to mitigate the rise in gas prices, he said America needed to focus on boosting it's own supply. He said Republicans had been consistently pushing this point even before the gas price issues.
"This is why we raised so much stink last January when the president stopped XL pipeline. They have made it more difficult and they are harming America's standing," Sessions said. "If they changed their policies immediately we would go to pumping more natural gas. We would go to changing those natural gas rules. We would change those related to pumping fossil fuels."
Unfortunately, a battle over energy policy will have to wait. Like many lawmakers, Sessions was waiting for house Democrats to come out with the latest version of the appropriations bill needed to fund the government for the rest of the year. Congress needs to pass that bill by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. The bill had not seen a vote in either house when 6 News spoke to Sessions Wednesday afternoon.
Sessions told 6 News he had no idea when the bill would be ready, but he would be staying up all night if he had to.
"I will have my suit on and spend the night in the office if that's what I need to do," Sessions said.
Gas prices are anticipated to be a central issue as the midterm elections get closer.
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