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concerning russian oil -- host: some of the thinking on oil and gas from congress when it comes to their twitter feeds, we cannot let polluters scare us into a domestic drilling free for all. it won't help the people of ukraine. according to reuters, 80% of americans support a ban on russian oil in words. the vast majority of americans do not want dollars to finance the awful war on ukraine and if the president doesn't act, congress will.

i support banning russian oil imports to the united states. vladimir putin is betting that short-term gas prices will break the resolve and he's going to lose that bet. on her twitter feed, gas prices started skyrocketing long before putin invaded ukraine. the crisis began when the biden administration shut down production and killed good jobs. unleash american energy. to the gas prices that you saw on the pump, reported on in the papers today, the national average as it currently stands, $4.06. nationwide, $5.34 in california. oregon, four dollars $.51. washington state, four dollars 40's -- four dollars 44 cents.

it goes on from there. the lowest currently is in pennsylvania. if you want to talk about the gas and oil price portion of what's going on and the debate on capitol hill over the issues, you can call us, (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us, (202) 748-8003. here is the white house press secretary, jen psaki, responding about the white house messaging to americans on high gas prices. [video clip] >> what is the message from the white house to americans about high gas prices? >> the president is going to do everything he can to reduce the impact on the american people,

including the price of gas at the tank. what is also true, because of the actions of president putin invading a sovereign country, it created instability in the markets. something the president talked about even before russia and president putin moved forward with their actions. the president has already taken steps. we will clearly continue to have conversations with large oil producers and suppliers around the world about how to mitigate the impact and consider domestic options as well. >> on friday they talked about options that they could take right now. when is the decision on that going to be made? >> i don't have a addiction at this time but there is active discussion. host: this is ronald in

illinois, starting us off on the democratic line. go ahead. caller: good morning, i'm 77, disabled vietnam veteran. i worked in an oil refinery for 25 years. people are being misguided in understanding the pipeline issues. specifically the keystone pipeline. the keystone pipeline from canada that was supposed to go down to the gulf of mexico is sour crude. sour crude is crude that has a high amount of sulfur, sulfides and it. that pipeline, the keystone pipeline, was made, built, being built directly to ship sour crude down to the gulf to be loaded onto tankers to go to

other countries who had more capability in getting the sulfur out of the crude oil. host: how does that affect what you are seeing today as far as gas prices in this debate over gas and oil issues with things going on in russia? how does that affect that? caller: what's happening is the crude oil that comes from russia is sweet crude. our country, the refineries, the majority of them have, they have facilities in their refineries for sweet crude only. they are not set up to get the sulfides out of the crude oil like the ones in south america and europe and other areas of host: gotcha. -- of the world. host: gotcha.

let's go to john. caller: looks to me like from the reports i have followed that we have two factions that are working. one, the factions presently in place. one is a contemplated sanction of the oil. biden has not decided though it seems like from the two houses of congress there is a growing sentiment towards not buying oil from russia. whether it is crude, sweet, or sour. but what are we going to do? if we stop buying oil, we will still need oil. where are we going to get it? we will get it from other

dictators, desperate's, and what have you. there has to be a better policy. host: ok. that is john and homer ville, georgia. if you sought on the pages, as far as their share of monthly imports to the united states of crude oil, petroleum products, most of that comes from canada on a monthly basis. mexico is a .4%. russian supplies a little under 8%, with saudi arabia, colombia, ecuador, iraq, brazil, following that. this is deandre in miami, florida, independent line. caller: good morning, c-span. america. it's unfortunate, where we find ourselves today right now. but i think we seen this coming for a long time. in our rearview mirror. starting with unilateral

sanctions in 2014. sanctioning entities and organizations, businesses that enable, you know, oil sales or oil businesses or whatever, with any country that we necessarily, you know, don't align with our global imperialist ambitions. and now we are going to see where, you know, every country, facing u.s. sanctions, they still have to continue to do their business. they are not just going to stop. they find other alternatives. economic systems to where they are kind of not susceptible to sanctions to the point where it's going to backfire on our economy to like, you know, for example, we sanctioned iran over

the last five or six years in their oil sales, trying to stop them from growing the state of hormuz. just regardless of sanctions they were doing things like rubies. now with this situation going on , you know, it's where we are going to, we are going to see the short end of the stick. yeah, man. god bless america, the american people, and may the lord be with us all. host: cnbc reporting this morning that it was the shell oil company apologizing for the purchase of oil from russia and pledging to stop that on friday that they purchased 100,000 metric tons of crude from russia reportedly bought at a record discount with many firms

shunning the oil during the on unprovoked invasion of ukraine. the company faced heavy criticism for the purchase including from the ukrainian foreign minister who has urged companies to cut off business ties with russia. this had been the focus of the tweet from senator bernie sanders saying that oil company revenues from last year, exxon was up, shel was up. bp up 45%, can't allow big oil companies to continue to take advantage of the war in ukraine with inflation to make huge profits by jacking gas prices. we need a windfall tax. a comparison tweet this morning saying that according to aaa the u.s. gasoline averages hit $4.09 today, july 24 of 2008, reaching $4.32 per gallon. for context, when it happened

the dow jones was 12,270 in 2008 and katy perry topped the charts according to aaa news, to give you the comparison. the topic of gasoline and oil in light of what's going on in russia, ukraine, louisiana, shirley, hello. >> good morning, c-span. good morning, america. as a concerned citizen, i can't even stretch my budget. anything about opening the pipeline or the discussions going on like jen psaki, they don't know when or where or how long it is going to last. keeping the american people in chaos, confusion, and fighting. i am for opening the pipeline. please, america, wake up and listen to what's going on. as far as shell purchasing all the oil, there goes the energy.

keep our energy. why would we want to fuel the war? who is going to go fight the war? they definitely cannot take the drug addicts. so, who are they going to take to fight a war that eventually we are going to get into? host: let's hear from willie in maryland. good morning. caller: the whole thing seems like an illusion. people talking about the pipeline, i thought it was to export oil, not import oil. i know about combat and what goes on in politics, and it seems like they were playing politics to make extra money. i think we should just stay out of the war and not even fund them with weapons. that is what we did with syria and what happened to those weapons? we left weapons in afghanistan.

as long as we keep giving people weapons and it gets into the wrong hands, the bad guy somewhere will end up with it and it will turn around and backfire. host: what you think about the conversation about higher gas prices and concerns over oil imports in the united states? caller: imports are very little, it shouldn't be affecting the gas price other than people jacking up prices for profit. this happens every time there is a conflict. host: that is willie in maryland. if you go to the hill this morning, republicans talking about their own form of sanctions, talking about the economic reverberations, proposed ban on russian oil feeling angst amongst democratic lawmakers who are wrestling with what to do about rising prices that mushroomed into a problem

for president biden. coalescing behind that proposal sponsored by joe manchin and lisa murkowski, to ban russian energy imports, democrats worry it could boomerang on them if it leads to higher inflation and they worry that oil companies could use the ban as an excuse to increase gas prices and they will wind up getting the blame and they expect republicans to ratchet up calls to open up federal lands to oil and gas exploration, something biden and his democratic allies don't want and they argue that it won't make a difference on fuel prices in the near term. on the independent line, mike is next. somerville, massachusetts. caller: for at least my entire lifetime, over 30 years, the conservatives have been telling us that climate change isn't real and that alternative energy is some kind of whatever,

communist socialist grabber or something. i want to send a big sarcastic thanks and say hey, give yourself a pat on the back because you are part of why we are here today talking about this. this conservative wing here, you hear the people calling in about the pipeline, they don't know what they are talking about. the oil refinery guy called in to correct them and we have a big problem here where these are the same people who have denied evolution, told us the earth is flat, told us the pandemic is a hoax. they don't exist in the same reality that most of the world lives in. host: do you think there is enough green energy as a definition to replace what we currently need is a country when it comes to oil and gas? caller: my point is if we had started the conversation or acted on the conversation 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in

this place. for example, during the obama years they gave subsidies for solar panels. these solar panels, you could pay $60,000, get a federal subsidy. at the time massachusetts was offering a subsidy. over six years, you break even. after that you can run on solar power. you get so much energy that you get paid for it. these are the kinds of policies that would have helped us. we have had 30 years of people screaming about the flat earth and i can't stand it. host: you made that point, mike. let's hear from raymond in mississippi. hello. >> i was just thinking, you know, i was listening to the news on cnn about america, americans looking for oil,

talking about going back to venezuela, they was complaining about all that cash, they didn't want to do that. i'm asking the question. don't haiti have oil? they are a poor country. can't we go in there and drill? that's my comment. host: this story from yesterday, venezuela, hyden inching closer to reaching a deal with venezuela, a bitter foe currently as they are seeking -- seeking for ways to stave off economic and diplomatic, political impact. arriving as the white house sent a delegation to venezuela over the weekend to discuss energy sanctions imposed by the u.s. several years ago and to discuss the fate of american citizens

who had been jailed in the country. one more bit from the white house, the press secretary yesterday specifically talked about increased gas prices. some of you mentioning that this morning. here is a portion of that from yesterday. [video clip] >> were gas prices not going up anyway because of post pandemic supply chain issues? >> there is no question that as we have seen and outside analysts have conveyed this as well, the continued increase, something her colleagues were asking about, it is a direct result of the invasion of ukraine and there was an anticipation of that that was factored in as gas prices went up. >> you say you are going to do everything you can to reduce the impact high gas prices have on americans. we are asking other countries to

maybe think about pumping more oil. why not just do it here? >> to be clear, they -- >> it's an executive order. >> let me finish. let me give you the facts here. it can be inconvenient but they are important in this moment. we have been clear that the short-term supply must keep up with demand and here and around the world we have made a shift to clear and secure energy future, a large producer with a strong domestic oil and gas industry, producing more oil in record numbers. there are 9000 drilling permits not being used. this suggestion that we are not allowing companies to drill is an accurate. -- is not accurate. the suggestion that that is preventing gas prices from

coming down is inaccurate. host: a story from cbs just to show you the headline, it could cause american families about $2000 per year. from michigan, this is todd, independent line. caller: good morning, back in the 70's when carter was and it was all about iran. then it was about opec. then it was about reagan and the sandinistas. it's always some excuse to raise the price of gas. always. the bottom line is it's greed and it's sickening. maybe putin is on the right track. maybe we should shoot off a few nukes and give everybody a wake-up call. host: john in pennsylvania, republican line, good morning, you are next up.

caller: morning, pedro. i think it's ridiculous what's going on here with the gas prices. here in pennsylvania it's going up another $.10 overnight. i seen that report with shell, buying it at a discount and selling it on the market at the highest price. and then sanders, he's complaining about them making breath -- record profits. of course, we knew this. it happened during the bush administration. they made more money in a quarter than some companies make in their history of being a country -- company. you know it is price gouging. what i don't understand is how joe biden can stop the production of oil in the united states but continue to let russia provide europe with 45% of their energy, gas, and oil. yesterday the republicans had a vote on the senate floor to

start up our drilling again and every democrat, everyone of them voted no. you know what it's all about? he wants these electric cars, he wants gas cars off the road. it's it's a war, it's a war on the fuel in car industry. the oil companies are happy to oblige because they will make record profits on this. host: that is john in pennsylvania. there's a story today from usa today about asset tires and they have to go to raise prices. to give you a bit of that, they say it would be a violation of antitrust laws for gas retailers to collude to jointly lift at the same time according to the expert there that is quoted. it's over the past 30 years there have been more than 100 investigations and lawsuits wrought by consumers. the states attorneys general alleging conspiracies

host: that is tom, who you heard from earlier, the global oil analyst. a few more minutes on this discussion in light of what's going on in russia and ukraine. when it comes to oil and gas. ken, clear low, florida. caller: how are you this morning? host: well, yourself? caller: disgusted. i think it's very simple. i believe in renewable energy. i believe it's time for that to come but it will take years and years and in the meantime i think it is so simple.

start drilling again, start producing oil again, be an exporter of oil. use the export me for renewables. that's my opinion. host: from pat, pinehurst, north carolina, republican line, go ahead. caller: two ukraine, putin is guilty of war crimes. all countries and leaders need to call him out for the barbarian he is for bombing civilians. as to gas, biden would like to see -- putin would like to see us use up our reserves. so that we rely totally on him for fuel. biden closed the pipeline in a day, he can reopen in a day and stop blaming everything on the pandemic which was created by how cheap. -- faucher she -- dr. fauci.

host: one other thing about the debate when it comes to oil and gas imports around keeping the federal government open, congress aims to follow the massive and long overdue fiscal 2022 omnibus spending package in the house and senate today, sending a vote to that chamber on wednesday where they potentially pass it before friday at midnight and the end of week deadline is when stopgap funding expires based on negotiations on monday lawmakers on both sides of the aisle appear confident that a fourth continuing resolution won't be necessary to keep the government funded, adding that lawmakers seem to be in agreement inputting $12 billion into funds for humanitarian and economic aid to ukraine and nato allies. from buffalo, new york, eric, democratic line. caller: for taking my call. what's not being discussed is

the profits the oil companies are making. just read an article, they made $100 billion in profits and most of that to stock buybacks. -- went to stock buybacks. what about all the uncapped, i mean captain wells not being utilized? they want to drill more in drill more in these people don't understand that the federal land is the american people's land and we are leasing it out operations to drill. it all comes down to greed and money. a lot of factors that go into everything but opec is steady raising oil prices from two what -- two months ago and nobody said a word. saudi arabia has been fight about it. what's going on there? a lot of avenues can be taken that aren't being discussed. i don't know, that's my point. host: one more call from roberto in texas. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my

call. in houston we are very concerned because i believe -- of course i can't prove it, but the russians, their next step may be a surprise attack on houston because we are the energy capital of the world. they keep insisting. that would be an intelligent move. they aren't going to announce it. i would like c-span2 ask this question in the future. did nato begin the crisis? if russian troops were stationed in canada and mexico, do you think that the united states would be very upset? thinking about this in a broad term. thank you so much. host: what is the average price there in houston? caller: four dollars $.10 and the thing that is making it different this time is our sympathy or compassion for the ukraine people. because yesterday on the front

page of the times they showed two bodies covered up and it said they were trying to flee and they were killed and the worst part for me is the child was killed. here's this couple trying to escape danger and ukraine and they were killed trying to escape the house today is considering funding for historically black colleges ant universities. later in the week we're expects debate on a bill about government spending to keep the government funded through september. when the house is back in session, live kovj here on c-span. -- live coverage here on c-span.

♪ >> intelligence agency officials testified before a house committee today about national security threats. watch tonight at 9:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or full coverage on our free video app c-span now. n o'toole, a senior fellow at the atlantic council, senior vice president and director of sanctions and screening for truett financial corporation. thank you for your time. guest: great to be here. a quick note, it is the oa