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Mar 4 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Of course we should stop buying Russian oil.

But please stop pretending this is a silver bullet, or that we could somehow "replace" all the Russian oil by drilling in America.

Please follow along for a few facts . . . 1/
Last year, the US bought $17 billion worth of oil from Russia. That's not a huge number, and many US refiners are already ending their purchases anyway.

In comparison, Biden's sanctions cost Russian energy companies over $190 billion just this week. 2/ oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-…
If we really wanted to deny Putin oil revenue, we'd try to stop all his oil and gas exports, not just the puny ones to the U.S.

But Russia is the world's #2 oil exporter -- second only to Saudi Arabia. Taking all that oil off the market overnight would explode gas prices. 3/
Republicans have been arguing that we could make up for losing Russian energy by stopping "Biden's war on oil" at home.

Huh?

In fact, there are 248 more active oil and gas rigs in the US today than when Biden took office, a 62% increase. 4/ rigcount.bakerhughes.com
Meanwhile, Biden is approving oil and gas drilling permits on public lands at a faster rate than Trump, and has been criticized for it by environmental groups. 5/
washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
If on top of all that, you also want to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, know that it wouldn't produce oil till 2031. The Keystone Pipeline also would take years to come online.

These projects would have no impact on gas prices today. 6/ eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/a…
If you want to shield American gas consumers from the impact of Russia's war, your problem is not Biden; it's Saudi Crown Prince MBS. This supposed US ally could produce more oil today but refuses, to protect a production agreement he made with Putin! 7/ wilsoncenter.org/article/saudi-…
Back to politics: many Republicans privately admit we can't "replace" all the Russian oil, but they want Biden to ban it all anyway, and then criticize him for the inevitable increase in gas prices.

We can't afford that kind of cynical partisanship right now. 8/
Democrats and Republicans need to lock arms and say: "As we sanction Russian oil, we must increase oil & gas production in the short run (including by pressuring the Saudis). But there will still be sacrifice at home, and we agree freedom and security are worth the price." 9/
And let's agree that so long as we are dependent on oil, every country that influences its price can blackmail us.

Let's become the world's clean energy superpower, and tell Putin, MBS, and the leader of every other "gas station masquerading as a country" to go to hell. End/

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More from @Malinowski

Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Mar 1
Responsible members of Congress are trying to maintain bipartisan consensus on Ukraine.

But those who seek partisan advantage have a clear game plan right now:

Tell Biden to stop Russian oil exports, while preparing to blame Biden for the inevitable rise in gas prices. 1/
Despite what you may have heard, US oil production is up, by some 5%, since President Biden took office. We are at capacity for LNG exports to Europe (till more LNG terminals are built). We are exporting oil AND importing (including from Russia) - this is how oil markets work. 2/
I think we should stop importing Russian oil now. But if that's all we do, others will buy it. So if we want Russia to make less money, we'd have to try to shut down their exports to everyone. 3/
Read 7 tweets
Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Feb 21
I'm just returning from the Munich Security Conference, where national security leaders from the US & Europe gathered to confront the Ukraine crisis. Some good news: I've honestly never seen more unity among our allies, or our two parties in Congress, on any global issue. 1/
The war Putin is threatening would be a totally unprovoked attack by a dictatorship on a democracy -- a decision by one man to kill thousands of people and to seize the territory of a sovereign country because it won't bend to his will. 2/
Putin appeasers and apologists say we could avoid a war by giving in to his demand that Ukraine never join NATO. They forget Ukraine made that promise in 2010, and Russia still invaded it four years later. brookings.edu/opinions/ukrai… 3/
Read 9 tweets
Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Jan 12
1/Virtually everyone agrees on the cause of the harmful inflation we're experiencing: people have more money to spend, but that demand is chasing too little supply.

But who we blame and how we propose to solve it reveals a lot about our political divide.
2/It's an incredible fact that despite one of the worst economic crashes in our history, average Americans (not just the super rich) have more household wealth to spend today than they did before the pandemic.
3/Government spending -- bailing out small businesses and state & local governments, helping people who lost jobs, stimulus checks & the child tax cut -- worked in rescuing our economy, and left Americans with the extra cash we are now trying to spend (i.e., higher demand).
Read 11 tweets
Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Apr 10, 2021
In March, @RepSpanberger and I urged a big increase in the budget of a little known agency -- the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN). Yesterday, the Biden administration agreed and formally asked Congress for a 50% boost!

Here's why this matters.
Last year, we enacted a bill I'd been championing for years to ban the anonymous shell companies foreign kleptocrats and corrupt Americans use to hide their money. The bill requires FINCEN to maintain a registry of the true owners of all companies based in the US.
More than half of Russia's wealth has been stashed abroad, including in the U.S., in fake companies and anonymous real estate. Tracking and cracking down on that corruption, part of FINCEN's mission, is key to countering dictators like Putin & Xi Xinping. nytimes.com/news-event/she…
Read 6 tweets
Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Jan 11, 2021
I walked through the Capitol building today with @RepDeanPhillips to thank the Capitol Police officers who faced down the mob on Wednesday with too little support.

I also just want to be in the Capitol as much as possible. It feels like holding sacred ground.
Here are some images from the Capitol. Officer Sicknick's bicycle. A broken window. The entry to the Speaker's lobby where shots were fired. Some words of wisdom.
One officer who is also an Army National Guardsman told us he was with his unit this weekend, and had to argue with some of his fellow Guardsmen who insisted the assault on the Capitol was fake, or staged. I'm increasingly worried about this problem in the ranks.
Read 4 tweets
Tom Malinowski Profile picture
Nov 6, 2020
You could say this was a close election, except that Biden will have won the popular vote by more than 5 million votes, plus victories in states few thought were truly winnable. This election will be remembered as a powerful statement.
You could say that we're dangerously divided, and that's partly true, except that this election was won by a coalition of decent Democrats and McCain/Romney/Bush Republicans who put aside differences on policy for the sake of the country.
You could say that our democracy is fraying, except that civic participation is at an all time high, and a leader who tried to subvert our democratic institutions was just beaten by entirely peaceful, democratic means, thanks to free elections, a free press, and the rule of law.
Read 7 tweets

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