Weakening Putin requires targeting Russia's oil and boosting US energy production

Sen. Mike Crapo said Russia belongs in the same pariah trade status as North Korea and Cuba, and Biden should unleash oil and gas production.

Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the hall to address Tokyo 2020 Paralympic medalists during the meeting at the Grand Kremlin Palace, on September 13, 2021 in Moscow, Russia. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) US President Joe Biden delivers remarks after touring the Clayco construction site in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, October 7, 2021.  (Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images) Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press conference on Russia's military operation in Ukraine, on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv. (Photo by Presidency of Ukraine/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) As inflation and gas prices skyrocket to new highs, it is time for President Biden to change his mind on another issue that empowers Vladimir Putin: domestic energy production. 

President Biden recently announced that the United States together with other NATO allies and the G7 - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom as well as the European Union will take steps to deny most-favored-nation status to Russia.  As the Republican leader of the Senate Finance Committee, I introduced bipartisan legislation with my counterpart, Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), that carries out these objectives by banning the import of energy products from Russia and Belarus, and revoking both countries’ trade benefits.  The President’s announcement reinforces the need for Congress to quickly pass this legislation.