**This week, Kuster sent a bipartisan letter to President Joe Biden calling on the administration to continue working with NATO allies to provide aircraft to the Ukrainian military**

Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, helped pass H.R. 6968, the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act. This bipartisan legislation counters Russia’s unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine by banning the import of Russian energy products classified under Chapter 27 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. This includes crude oil, petroleum, petroleum fuels, oils, and products of their distillation, liquefied natural gas, coal, and coal products, among other products.

“We cannot allow American dollars to support Putin’s violent invasion of Ukraine, which has killed and injured countless innocent civilians and displaced millions,” said Rep. Kuster. “The United States must use every economic and diplomatic tool available to hold Russia accountable and deter further aggression, and this legislation takes action to do just that. I am pleased that the Biden administration used its authority to enact an energy ban out of Russia earlier this week, and I was proud to vote for this bipartisan legislation today to take that ban one step further and deliver another blow to Putin’s economy.”

Specifically, the Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act also:

• Requires the U.S. Trade Representative to use the voice and influence of the United States to condemn the recent aggression in Ukraine, to encourage other World Trade Organization (WTO) members to suspend trade concessions to Russia, and to consider further steps with the view to suspend Russia’s participation in the WTO.
• Provides the president with the authority to allow the import of certain energy products from Russia if the importation is pursuant to a written contract or agreement entered into before enactment. Also provides the president with the authority to waive the ban on one or more energy imports from Russia, if the president certifies such a waiver is in the national interest of the United States. Congress has the authority to overrule such waiver decisions through a congressional disapproval process.

Kuster has been an outspoken voice in Congress to support the people of Ukraine. On Monday, she sent a bipartisan letter to President Joe Biden calling on the administration to continue working with NATO allies to provide aircraft to the Ukrainian military. On Tuesday, Kuster applauded President Biden’s Executive Order to prohibit new investments in and certain energy imports from Russia. 

###