‘Simply Not True’: Biden Refutes Criticism of His Domestic Energy Policies While Announcing Russian Oil Ban

President Joe Biden defended his administration’s domestic energy policy while announcing new sanctions against Russia over their war against Ukraine.

Biden spoke from the White House on Tuesday, confirming that the U.S. will ban Russian oil imports, and touting the move as “another powerful blow to [Vladimir] Putin’s war machine.” The president acknowledged that the move could cause prices to rise, but he directed himself toward oil and gas companies as he said “it’s no excuse to exercise excessive price increases, or padding profits, or any kind of effort to exploit this situation for American consumers.”

“Russia’s aggression is costing us all,” Biden said, “and it’s no time for profiteering or price gouging.”

After recognizing the energy companies pulling their business away from Russia, Biden switched gears and proclaimed “it’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.” This comes after numerous critics have slammed the president over gas price increases, and by arguing that Biden mishandled the Ukraine situation by not making America more energy independent from Russia beforehand.

It’s simply not true. Even amid the pandemic, companies in the United States pumped more oil during my first year in office than they did during my predecessor’s first year. We’re approaching a record level of oil and gas production in the United States, and we’re on track to set a record of oil production next year. In the United States, 90 percent of onshore oil production takes place on land that isn’t owned by the federal government. And of the remaining 10 percent that occurs on federal land, the oil and gas industry has millions of acres leased. They have 9,000 permits to drill now. They could be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year. They have 9,000 to drill onshore that are already approved.

Biden continued by arguing that the development is a “stark reminder” that America’s long-term interest is to be energy independent, and “it should motivate us to accelerate the transition to clean energy.”

“Loosening environmental regulations and pulling back clean energy investment will not lower energy prices for families,” Biden said. “But transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles powered by clean energy with tax credits to help American families winterize their homes and use less energy, that will help. And if we can, if we do what we can, it’ll mean that no one has to worry about the price of the gas pump in the future. That will mean tyrants like Putin won’t be able to use fossil fuels as weapons against other nations.”

Watch above, via CNN.