>> this morning, president biden will provide an update on the u.s. response to russia's invasion of ukraine. live coverage starts at 10:15 a.m. eastern here on c-span2, you can also watch on-line at c-span.org or watchful coverage on c-span now, our free video app. ♪♪ c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> are you thinking this is just a community center? no, it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers for wi-fi so students in low income families can get the tools they need for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service along with television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> our guest, christine with

the eye lines of democracy. thank you for being on the program today. >> great to be here. >> a little about your organization, what does it do as far as looking at energy issues and who is it financed and funded by? >> so it's a program under the german marshal fund of the united states. the broader organization works on building transatlantic relations and the marshall plan, which is a way of saying that we believe in the liberal, international order, and the institutions that were set up after world war ii to ensure peace and prosperity, in the transatlantic space. the alliance for caring democracy is woman that started three years ago, in under the auspices that's trying to encroach on our democracies, in

the united states, in europe, across the broader world. we focus on russia and dhooin and autocratic tendencies and actors, using schools from economic measures in our society is a big concern. can we do to track that influence and provide strategies to counter the influence so we're resilient. not undercutting ourselves in a strategic way, not undercutting the democracy because of the interest in your eight autocratic actors. >> and when you hear about oil coming to the united states and what's the impact. >> it's important to realize that vladimir putin is an autocratic and making his country authoritarian, and when we're not going to enrich this

regime, we're not going to fund their war machine and that's a part of making sure we're not in think way dependent or reliant or complicit in that regime's activity. and this is really important for the democratic side for america's strategic freedom, as well. and something that can be mirrored around the world as a way of breaking free of the endanglements and limitations that they pose, this of course has a cost to citizens though. >> that cost as far as gas prices are concerned. what do you think is the reaction, particularly some say over $4 a gallon and close to five in some places. >> i'm with you, i don't like driving down the street and thinking how much gas i have left in my tank and looking up, oh, well, it's not going to be a pretty picture. i get that, on the other hand i don't want to fill up my gas tank and think about those dollars going to buy bullets to

mow down the ukrainian people or to pay for these rockets or pay for the armor that needs to be replenished in ukraine and i think that's an important point because of course, the immediate hit of satisfying, you know, as of today we're no longer going to be using russian gas, russian oil, russian coal. that's a destabilizing effect on the market and the first day when it's announced, and gas prices, they fell again, brent oil price went down. so the market is a volatile beast and a lot of things it can do to make sure that the energy prices don't go that high for consumers. that's releasing energy from reserves, oil from reserves, something that president biden has talked about. and also, how do you just make more oil, biomoore oil from other sources. and when you think back to the pandemic days when, i think a couple of years ago, people were sitting at home, they didn't need to drive around. it didn't make sense for a lot

of oil and gas producers to be pumping up, to be making as much oil and gas and this would push down the price more when there wasn't as much demand. we're two years on, but the processes required to up production, they're not going to be up today, not going to be up tomorrow. but we will see adjustments over the next weeks and months trying to account for the sudden shift. where does that hit? that hits in your pocket, but how do you countenance somebody blowing up maternity hospitals and attacking women in labor. that's the reality and it's up to the oil companies and it's up to the-- to figuring out supply chains with other countries to make sure it doesn't hurt citizens that. because there are ways to get more gas on the market in the united states and i think we'll see adjustment in the next few weeks and months that will make it feel that much more normal. >> if you want to to ask

questions, call in, and 202-748-8002 for independents, if you want to text us, 202-748-8003. yesterday as far as the gas prices that you talked about, the rise there, jen psaki pointing to the actions of president putin for doing that. >> we'll get your thoughts. >> since president putin in the ukraine why unborders, the price of gas in america has gone up 75 cents, there's widespread concensus that in january it was called by the building of putin's troops on the border. and russia is the world's third largest oil producer and energy supplies disruptions and volatility are a result of his aggressions, don't have to take my word for that, a number of

assessments back fed chair powell warned there was risk to our economy what's going on in eastern europe. in early february, j.p. morgan thought that it could push to 120 per barrel. that's what's happened. our approach is two-fold. we need to make sure that the supply meets the demand. obviously we're engaging with big global oil producers around the world to meet that demand, but there are also, as we've talked about a few times in here, 9,000 unused oil leases that oil companies could certainly tap into and we've encouraged them to do that, so that's certainly a way to address. >>, but the gas february 14th was highest since 2014 so it was already at elevated level. >> and the buildup of troops was even before that. >> that's the exchange. >> and what she posed as

reasons why. >> i think it's right to blame president putin. if there wasn't a threat of war or energy supply you wouldn't see the prices go up as we have. the market doesn't respond only to what we know for sure is available or unavailable, but there's a psychological effect here. ... term, the lack of energy supplies? maybe we need to stock up. the fact that president putin has been creating a tremendous volatility on the six early-stage tremendous volatility on the security stage globally but also on economic stage it's absolutely true. president putin in many ways has taken the world's security question and economy hostage through this act of taking ukraine. the reason to try to get off of russian fuels right now is to say you're not taking as hostage with you. we do not want you to have leverage of power. you are wielding too much

influence on the global stage right now because you want to reestablish an empire. we want nothing to do with that. that's the way of insulating the american people from an unpredictable and belligerent man on the world stage. why should the world have to be taken along with it and why should americans? i agree it's not nice to see an increase in price but there's way to adjust for this. i cannot going to be this morning but even yesterday we saw jen psaki saying it would go up to 120 and it fell again yesterday. again this is a very movable picture of what is not movable is the moral reckoning that we must have with what we are buying, when we are buying russian oil and gas right now. i don't want to contribute to theer murder of these people. i don't think most americans do either. >> lecher from jack in florida independent life for our guest kristine berzina of the alliance for securing democracy.

jacket good morning. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. if we froze and took all the sanctions against the oligarchs and putin, why is this a problem just taking their money and adjusting the markets? make them pay for it. why should we have to pay for it? we get their money. take it from them. sell their yachts. >> thank you. i think it's a very good question. how do we makeon use of the bad assets that thet russians haven our societies, and we're starting, the assistant to process of trying to identify, sees it these, the ill-gotten gains of, as president biden said thess russian oligarchs and ruling class. we are at the beginning. i think how do we use that money, is it to buy more reserve gas? is it too perhaps age ukraine? these are questions, we are not

quite there yet. these are very important questions though. how do we think about the assets that we have that we have access to to punish russia for its behavior right now but to help people carry through. it's not fair to pass on the burden entirely to the american peoplele or to the european people. europe is facing so many of the same challenges. when you have other alternatives. we need to be smart and creative about how we think about resilience rightou now, how we think about you guys have these fancy apartments, they are worth extreme millions, had we pass at back on the people. absolutely you are thinking the right way and the creativity that this crisis is causing in the policymaking in washington and across the capitals is an interesting moment to start thinking through, wait a minute, let's not beholden to them. let's set her own terms. in wes,

this is the democrats line, david, hello. caller: yes, sir. i would like to ask her a question. what about the world global oil market? seems like for the past 40 years, they control the price of oil and i think opec's meeting today talked about ramping that third production and could stabilize the prices of oil and also senator warner and -- warren and senator whitehouse is working in bill they announced tuesday that, if the oil companys in america tried to take care of russian leaving the markets here, that they cannot increase their profit margin. host: thanks, caller. guest: thank you. you are right that these are

two important parts. if opec agrees to increase production, we could have significant stabilization and return to normal price levels. opec has been restricting supply for a number of years, in particular the post-pandemic period because there was not much demand. if you have a lot of supply a little demand, it is bad for saudi arabia. what matters for saudi arabia or the united arab emirates sets the state-run opec. if the saudis would think right now, it is better for them to increase production, the u.s. and diplomatic efforts is trying to convince them this is a good idea. if that happens, then you do have more stabilization. again this is part of the bigger problem of relying on foreign sources of oil. if you have the saudis, venezuela, iran, others who might be the right answer to increase the oil production, it is not the best place to be. because we have, the u.s. is a

major oil supplier, and a better place than it was a decade and a half ago. that would be excellent but it would be nice to generally not rely on autocrats anywhere for our energy. i think some solutions are beyond opec and begging opec to do a better job, but also going to think about our own resources and maybe how we get more cars and trucks on electricity and burn something that is not saudi oil or russian oil. i think other solutions here could also be in order but you are right, opec is part of it, though opec has to think about its relationship with russia and it is not necessarily saying yea, america wants something, let's do it. on your other points, which is how do you deal with the prices and deal with oil companies, this is generally a concern. how are the oil companies responsible only to their shareholders, and how are oil companies only responsible to

the population as well? and can, in a situation like this where there is a moral imperative we respond to, can that be a situation with oil companies behavior better -- behave better and release more because it is the right thing to do, and not turn a profit because -- and not use the fact that there is this volatility but choose the right thing. maybe this is not also a hopeless question given many of these oil companies have less russia -- they were not meant -- left russia. many have left russia because it is a bad idea to be there. can this oil bull -- this horrible tragedy in ukraine lead us to think about doing things right? are we in bed with the right people around the world? do we have our energy makes right? are we doing the best job we can to make sure that we are not involved and are not pleasant in things we not -- are not

complicit with things we do not want to deal with. host: our next caller is on the republican line. caller: yes, i heard jen psaki say the price of oil and gasoline went up when putin invaded. it went up long before that. the day that biden was inaugurated, i paid $1.39 per gallon for gasoline and could have got it for one dollar 35 cents if i had gone up to walmart, so it started long before that. to correct it, the price, the easiest thing to do would be to finish the pipeline and start redrawing. the idea the oil companies are holding back on production and on delivery is ludicrous. they need to excel oiling gas to make a profit.

that's the resistance the current administration has placed on the petroleum industry, it is what is causing the price of gasoline to go up. host: alright that is our call in texas. the 40 respond to him, if i could, it was kevin mccarthy yesterday that talked about what the caller referenced, the xl pipeline, it is what he sees in all of this. i want to play what he had to say and you can respond to all of these things. [video clip] not only did how -- house republicans worn this would happen, we offered repeated solutions to the problem, build a pipeline, increase production, distribution, and fast-track energy exports our allies. by contrast, democrats plan to lower prices today and blame russia. buy expensive electric vehicles and beg opec for a bailout. if you look here, you have watched time and again where the democratic leadership goes after american companies that produce

energy to produce less but ask those countries with dictators and other leaders to produce more. the president said the buck stops with me, then he said you can do much about it now, russia is responsible. the secretary of transportation tells americans to go by and electric car. the state department was to buy oil from iran, trading one dictator for another. host: go ahead. guest: thank you. i think these are very good questions. there are things i agree with you on and don't agree with you on. if you look at the gas prices, you are right, they have increased significantly since president biden came into power. what we have also seen at the same time is going from the height or a very high point in a pandemic to a low point. when there was a high point in the pandemic, most people were sitting at home, people were not going to work and were not driving, kids were not going to

school in the demand for gas was low yet there was significant production lower than before and lower than now. in that situation, because of what we all as a society were doing, the prices were lower. as everybody has woken up and think i want to get out of my house and i want to fly and drive to the beach, want to get together with my family, all of those small decisions resulted in much bigger demand on oil available, and suddenly that oil became more valuable per unit in each car because everybody wanted more. so that is leading to the increase in prices. when you think about the unpredictability of the pandemic, which month would be the save one and which month when we have delta and omicron? it has been hard for the gas producers to anticipate the need when you are responding to

something fundamentally unpredictable as the pandemic. we are now in a situation where there's a tremendous need to increase production anyway. the lack time between where we think we want to be, how much we want to travel how much we want to be producing, how much we want to use gas, and the oil companies know that when they were trying to ramp up production? this is creating higher prices. of course we do see a timeline correspondence between the inauguration of president biden and where we are today, but i would not say it is a political link. i would say it is a link that has to do with the pandemic and much more with the wave of covid we are seeing, rather than with significant political decisions. that is true until you get to right now. where you see the prudent dynamic changing things and at the same time i want to get out and about and that means i'm driving more and so i am contributing, as are many people

who are like this wave is over, let's see people. so you have human behavior plus political questions here. something you did say totally to the point is you need to drill more. yes the u.s. has a good reason because of raised demand because normal behavior is where we are in the pandemic and because of the situation in russia to make more oil, to make more gas. that is not immediate. so there's a question how quickly could we do that, what are the weeks and months required to increase production, can we increase that production in the united states? that is a crucial question. when it comes to the pipeline, you will also not snap your fingers and have that pipeline and the kind of solutions we will need are the solutions for the next few weeks in particular. because you can ramp up, without really needing to completely change the infrastructure that you have, but it will take a few weeks. the keystone pipeline will not be the solution for the gas to

go back to $1.39 per gallon at the pump two weeks from now. so yes, drilling, yes production, the like times there are significant. we need to figure out how to pace them. other countries have different approaches as well. europe is way more dependent on russian oil and gas and generally any kind of fossil fuel imports, 90% dependent in many ways, europe will need to also think about its imports. what they are doing is providing additional financial resources to households to get out of this. we heard the question of the cost of $6,000. it matters to you and i'm sure it matters to me. an extra $20,000 difference between a gasoline car and the same car in the form of an electric vehicle.

how do we fix that gap? that's a policy decision. are there incentives right now where you look at -- i hate this autocrats autocrat throwing a potato around game of gasoline. we have all sorts of domestic sources of fuel in the u.s., we make our own coal, our own natural gas, our own gasoline, and we have a tremendous potential to have renewables as well on rooftops in mass industrial scale as well. can we be more flexible if we have more evs? i as a consumer would want more of a something in order to cut the difference for me so that if it is one to one and i think about what does this mean globally, what does this mean in terms of my own ability to charge my own car? if it is the same price, awesome. it is not the same price. what matters to me probably also matters to you. i think that is a lot of what the biden administration is talking about. when you look at build back

better, i know that is not a popular word right now, but fundamentally, having policies and incentives to say do you want to buy a new truck? make it electric, make it run on american fuel, i think that is a good bet. i want that 20 grand difference in my pocket so it does not hurt me. it is not fair to hurt you. let's figure out how it is possible to get the congress to pass this bill. i think it really makes a lot of national security sense, makes climate sense, and it is a good idea. host: let's hear from jackson in arlington, virginia. democrats line. caller: good morning. i want to continue on the line of thinking you were just on right now, basically internal to the united states, we have these resiliency's for needs to breed -- needs to be brought to bear to bring americans up that opportunity frontier, right? my question is, how likely do

you think president biden and this administration will become the most popular one term presidency if we continue to let's say get too involved redistributing resources to ukraine when in fact, and what is more insidious, our congress seems to be rallying around somewhere in the vicinity of billions of dollars in aid when internal to the u.s., those resiliency's that need to prop up americans do not seem to be there. if the administration supports that, what is the likelihood of that working to the detriment? guest: it's never a great thing for any presidential -- president going into a midterm to have high gas prices. it's a dangerous decision for the ministration to go in but there is bipartisan support for making sure ukrainians have the ability to fight off russia.

if you turned on the tv in the past two days and you see families with suitcases, like many of us have in a closet to go for a weekend away being killed, shelled, putting that roller suitcase away -- pulling that roller suitcase and trying to save your life, these are not images i can get out of my head. i can not get images of an 18-year-old shelled taken to the hospital and the doctor on the floor because they could not save the child's life. humanitarian assistance on the hill, that is the right thing to do. it is not ok to leave the ukrainian people bleeding and dying without significant military and humanitarian support, just because vladimir putin wants that to be the case. it is also not ok not to provide basic needs to the american people in the way much of the

world actually is accustomed to. so you are right that it is important for the u.s. to be providing much more assistance. as i was saying, whether it is in the field of providing subsidies, to make sure american national security interests are better that american use american fuel whether they are renewable or fossil fuels, to keep the economy going, to fuel their own lives, their households, these things are possible. it is not an either or. these things are completely doable. there is no reason to turn a blind eye to an entirely unneeded human suffering and ukraine and there is no reason except for deadlock on the hill, but to make a lot of these things easier for americans. i do not see why it should be a political -- politically

controversial decision to make america stronger and make americans stronger and more able to take care of themselves right now. that is where i think the question of resiliency, societal resiliency, comes in. that is providing americans tools so they do not have to be complicit in tough decisions about where you get fuel or fragile and therefore more susceptible to the kind of propaganda and disinformation campaigns that russia, china, or other autocracies push out. it is important for americans to feel supported and feel unified, because that will be tremendously important, to fight off these global evils we are seeing right now. host: in arkansas, this is tim, independent line, hi. caller: hi, pedro. first with you i want to ask a question. have you guys done a segment yet on joe biden using the russian ambassador to negotiate with

iran for the new jcpoa? -- >> coming up on c-span2, u.s. ambassador to nato julianne smith addresses the russian invasion of ukraine, the event is being hosted by the "washington post." we will have live coverage starting at 11 a.m. eastern. then at 12:30 the council council on foreign relations -- . he signed 50 executive orders his first days in office and all of our current problems, gas prices, fuel costs, inflation, then surrendered to afghanistan, left for the rise of isis. we have fennel deaths, illegal crossings because he won't prose the border, human trafficking. now human trafficking going on in ukraine, people trying to flee. supply chain shortages, nursing shortages, medical workers shortages. host: that's a lot out there. what would you like our guest

specifically to address? caller: mostly it is the attitude and words. when you tell the gasoline companies that we are going to phase out gasoline engines in five to 10 years, who wants to buy a gasoline engine if there will be no more gasoline? but the problem is you cannot build roads with electric bulldozers. they do not exist. host: ok, thanks. guest: thank you for your questions. on the question about who is at fault, look at these pictures of little kids and women in labor who are being shelled, who are being killed. that is not president biden's doing. this is the actions of an autocrat whose aims are to reestablish an empire that russia has -- had so many

centuries ago. this is about 1918 century thinking about what the glory of russia was. he is living in a palace and he would like to feel like the king from the days when the american revolution was fought. what he is doing to get that is unthinkable in the 21st century. outright murder, looting. it is just awful, and i think that really needs to be in perspective. you are right there are a lot of problems in the united states. you are right if it is gas prices or addictions, other things, those are absolutely true, but when you look at the situation today, it is also good to call that a blessing because that is something i think the administration and everyone on the hill is trying to protect. so that's important. on how do you keep with gas

phase out. gasoline and fossil fuels are going to necessarily be in the mix for the foreseeable future. you will not run a plano solar right now, you will not get coast-to-coast audit, you will not be able to build a road. that is right. but there are a lot of people for whom having a big gasoline engine early does not matter. if you live in a city or in the suburbs and what you are doing is home to school, to work, to home, to school, you can perfectly do that on an electric vehicle that you charge with power you make here. and i think that is incredibly important to enable normal citizens to have that opportunity for what makes sense to them. you are not going to plow the fields with an ev at. you are not going to-- ev yet. you will not be able to do heavy transport. can you put an entire fleet of

post office vehicles or other delivery services on electric and charge them at night? all they are doing our impound movements. that works really well. then you don't have idling engines, you now have a solution. you have to be creative about the things we can do. then let's say you move all of your delivery trucks of some kind if you are a company onto ev and then you have the batteries to charge at night. maybe there is good wind power you can do it with. it will not work for everybody or all industries. gasoline will be part of the mix , but if we can get off saudi gas and use american gas, and if we can do that by moving what can be moved -- and frankly it's more convenient for air-quality to be moved tv's, great. -- moved to evs, great. congress should be rallying around it in this moment to make sure it does not call citizens money. host: there's a story today

taking a look at europe as a whole and why do the events of the last -- and the events of the last couple weeks. audi think they have changed as far as energy is concerned? guest: many of us that look a lot at europe feel whiplash. europe has been dependent and staunchly dependent on russian natural gas, russian oil for decades. certain countries, that was a decision. the germans thought it was a good idea to buy russian natural gas, to keep them in the loop, to keep them close enough and have some influence in russia. frankly the influence with the other way and you had significant corruption at the highest level of german power. chancellor schroeder taking key positions in these russian pipelines rather than the other way around. germany and europe has turned on a dime on these. they have looked at what is going on with russian invasion of ukraine and said no, we get it. we do not want to be part of this. they have said that by the end of this year they will be -- two

thirds they will reduce dependence on russian gas by two thirds. this is a continent 40% dependent on russian natural gas , but it matters in the household level. for europe to say we will provide you with the financial incentives and we will help get heat going and electric solar panels on your roof, we are going to substitute with american or qatar, lng, liquefied natural gas, we will try to get off of russian gas as quickly as we can, understanding we have dug ourselves into a deep hole, europe is taking this moment and doing things that many of us have pressed your to do for a long time and suddenly it is coming together. why can't the u.s. do the same thing? why can't the usa we looked in the 1970's we had the oil embargoes, we had a tough time, right now we see what it means not to have a variety and

tremendous new wealth source of energy. we need to support that more. let's say no more like many of the europeans have done and made decisions that are shocking, excellent but shocking. the u.s. can do that too. host: from bridget in south carolina, republican line. good morning. caller: thank you. biden from day one, his policies started this and i remember the stickers that people were putting on gas pumps with biden saying i did that, but we are where we are now. we need to ramp up and become energy independent again. i agree with you. but about the saudis and uae, they would not even accept biden's call. why?

i think they are mad at biden for some reason. could you explain that? guest: thank you. the saudis and uae are really important here. the saudis are really difficult partners. the u.s. has needed the saudis because of the kind of energy dependence we have been talking about. here, before the advent of oil, saudi did not exist really as an entity. what we have is a country that has been created, that has been bald heard -- bolstered and preface further because of that dependence and the power that oil gives them. saudi right now today is not an excellent partner to the united states, but they have not been in many ways an excellent partner to the states four years. this is not something that is a problem only today. saudi arabia is a country that

allowed a journalist to be chopped up into pieces in diplomatic representation of it. this is a country that routinely aggressors against the values and norms and human rights that we in america hold so dear. yet because of this oil relationship, saudi has been in the fold, and they have never felt that it needs to be playing by the rules because really what are america's chips? what is the u.s. going to do about it? we can do something about it. this is where, as i was saying, how do you increase resilience? how do you increase the flexibility americans have? how do you free up the money right now through legislation so that americans say awesome, russia showed us a bigger problem, we do not need to be part of this anymore, let's figure out how we use existing democratic fossil fuels where they are needed because they are needed