McMorris Rodgers Calls U.S. Energy ‘Our Most Powerful Weapon’ Against Russia

RaeLynn Ricarte (The Center Square).

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Spokane), a congresswoman from Eastern Washington, made comments on the Russian invasion in Ukraine at a Thursday meeting of the Spokane Valley City Council.

It was an irony, she said, that America buys fuel from Russia, and thereby helps its military to invade Ukraine.

Ukraine, bordered to the northeast and east by Russia, is Europe’s second-largest country. As McMorris was meeting with Spokane Valley officials to learn about key transportation projects, news outlets were reporting on Russia’s heavy shelling of Ukrainian troops during the offensive.

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McMorris rodgers is the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She said that the crisis in the world had made it clear that America must return to its 2020 energy independence. She said that this country could not only provide no money to Russia but could also help its allies to weather the inevitable economic storm.

Over concerns that Russia will reduce the flow of natural gas and oil to Europe, natural gas prices are already on the rise.

“Energy is our most powerful weapon,” she said.

McMorris stated that the Democratic President Joe Biden had taken a number of actions to slow down gas production. According to her, the present situation showed the need for the government’s reversal in policy.

McMorris Rodgers, who represents the state’s 5th Congressional District, later released a statement about Russia’s attack on Ukraine unfolding after weeks of a military buildup along its borders:

“I join in strongly condemning Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked and unlawful invasion of Ukraine,” she said. “We must unite around our shared values of liberty and democracy in the face of his blatant power grab against the people of Ukraine and their nation’s sovereignty. Freedom must prevail.”

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She insisted that “energy security is national security” and called it “clearer than ever what is at stake when anti-American energy policies make us and Europe more dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.”

She argued that Russia’s economy and Putin’s rule “are dependent upon dominating energy production and exporting to other nations. He gains power by doing so, and it’s what funds his military and aggressive behavior.”

The congresswoman concluded by urging Biden “to restore America’s energy dominance” so that the United States’ allies will not “be beholden to aggressors like Putin who use vital resources as a weapon against the West.”

This article was Syndicated by permission of The Center Square.