Luetkemeyer Delivers Remarks at Hearing to Strengthen Energy Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela
Washington,
December 12, 2023 -
Today, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, led by Chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03), is holding a hearing entitled “Restricting Rogue-State Revenue: Strengthening Energy Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.”
Watch Chairman Luetkemeyer’s opening remarks here.
Read Chairman Luetkemeyer’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:
“Thank you to our very impressive set of witnesses for being here today. You each possess tremendous expertise on global energy economics and sanctions, and we look forward to your insights.
“This hearing is titled: ‘Restricting Rogue-State Revenue: Strengthening Energy Sanctions on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.’
“When our subcommittee last convened on October 25 in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, we examined the sanctions regime against the nation that stands behind and funded that barbarism: Iran.
“Our expert witnesses informed us of the sources of revenue of the Iranian state, most of which relate to the export of their hydrocarbons and related products, and the means, illicit or authorized, by which Iran is able to access those funds.
“Today, as promised, we will expand on that discussion.
“As it happens, not just Iran, but two other countries in the new ‘axis of evil’ are petrostates, or something to that effect: Russia and Venezuela.
“These three countries’ dependence on a single category of exports should provide the United States and our allies with substantial leverage over their economies, as the global market for these commodities is large and liquid.
“Moreover, the United States is one of the largest producers in the world, as are several of our historically close allies, notably Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest swing producer.
“Unfortunately, as other committees of this Congress have explored, the Biden administration has suppressed or impeded North American hydrocarbon production even as they have emptied out our emergency reserves for short term political points.
“At the same time, the Biden Administration has taken a consistently weak approach to enforcing the energy sanctions that would have the strongest economic impact on Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
“Iran’s ghost fleet continues to feed the Chinese industrial economy and its teapot refineries, with little effort to stop the flow by the United States.
“Russia’s oil and gas, their most economically significant exports, have been either excluded from sanctions or subjected to a fake control scheme that either set the price cap above the market price for Urals, or, when that was exceeded, exempted the exports.
“Finally, the administration’s efforts to allow Venezuela to export more oil have only been foiled by the Maduro administration’s incompetence that has gutted their technological capabilities.
“Overall, this weak approach to energy sanctions has had the domestic political benefit of putting a material downward pressure on the price of oil, but with the negative consequence of enriching those enemy states while hurting domestic producers.
“Furthermore, unlike the United States, China depends on imported energy, so the ability to import deeply discounted gas and oil from all three countries has been a substantial benefit to our main strategic rival.
“Overall, the Administration’s approach to the global hydrocarbon market is backwards and strategically counterproductive.
“Iran has been emboldened to throw its weight around the Middle East, from Yemen to Gaza, with it or its proxies directly attacking U.S. military sites and warships essentially without consequence.
“Continued oil revenues have allowed Russia’s economy to weather the ostracism and wide-ranging financial actions taken in 2022, which were widely predicted to be catastrophic. They were not–and Moscow has been able to continue its unprovoked, brutal, and unjust war against Ukraine.
“Finally, the Biden administration waived energy sanctions against Venezuela purportedly in a naive hope that this communist dictatorship would allow a free election. Humiliatingly, last week the Venezuelan dictator threatened to annex the oil-rich provinces of its peaceful neighbor, Guyana.
“It seems that in just two years, the Biden administration’s wrongheaded energy policies may have helped start or sustain wars on three continents.
“That’s quite a record.
“Instead, the United States and our allies should return to an approach of strongly enforcing energy sanctions against these rogue regimes to weaken our enemies.
“At the same time, we should strengthen the United States by unleashing hydrocarbon production in free countries with high environmental and human rights standards, like the United States, Canada, and our allies.
“We should be working with our friends to maintain low prices and high global supply even while reducing the share that these rogue states provide.
“Today we will explore what such an approach could look like by better understanding the energy economies and vulnerabilities of each of these countries, so that we can legislate solutions that pressure them.”
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