Republican Senators Criticize WH Sanctions Decisions
Republican senators criticized President Joe Biden's choices not to levy sanctions on Russia before last month's invasion of Ukraine, and questioned why the sanctions now aren't tougher, during a press conference March 16 at the Capitol.
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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the White House's decision not to sanction Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline serving Germany from Russia, until after the invasion of Ukraine was a "surrender to [Russian President Vladmir] Putin," and said it was "the direct, precipitating cause of this invasion." He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Senators on a call two weeks earlier, "If the United States had sanctioned Nord Stream 2 last year, Putin would not have invaded."
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said that Biden is "not really following it through with tough sanctions. Specifically, what I'm talking about is the Biden sanctions on financing Russian energy don't go into effect until June 24th. It's great that we're going to embargo the oil on its way, but there's so much more we could do short of boots on the ground."
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said, "We need to fully implement the sanctions. We said that before Putin invaded. Put the hammer down on what Russia's doing. Stop their ability to fund their war machine by selling oil and gas."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, asked why America isn't seizing properties of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, rather than freezing them. The sanctions prevent individuals from selling or borrowing against their American properties, but the sanctioned individuals still own them. "France has already done that. Germany has already done that," he said. "Why should the United States be leading from behind here? We should be leading in the front."