Just before I caught up with Montana Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) on Tuesday morning, the news broke that President Joe Biden would finally be banning Russian oil imports into the US.

OK. That's great. But some European countries will still be buying the oil from Russia. And more importantly, if you're not simultaneously opening up American energy all you are doing is driving up gas prices even higher for the American people, while doing nothing to slow down Putin's invasion of the Ukraine.

Senator Daines concurred. Last week, he offered a bill on the floor of the US Senate that would do just that- open up American energy exploration. Every single Democrat in the United States Senate voted against the effort:

Senator Daines: This is a president who's been saying 'we're going to ban American energy production.' And so the greenies out there, they love this idea of stopping more oil production, whether it's Russian or American or anywhere. They like the fact the price is going up. They like the fact that the price at the pump is going up, because it justifies their their Green New Deal illusions.

Senator Daines also went after the Biden Administration for reaching out to America's enemies, like Iran, instead of reaching out to American energy producers.

Senator Daines: The bottom line is this president- President Biden as we speak is reaching out to Maduro of Venezuela, a dictator. They're reaching out to the Iranians trying to craft a deal with the Iranians to get more oil out of Iran. More oil out of Venezuela. More oil out of Saudi Arabia. If President Biden were doing the right thing, the first phone call he would make would be to all the US big oil producers- say let's come to Washington, we're going to get around the table here in the White House and talk about a plan to unleash Made in America energy.

Full audio with Senator Daines and Aaron Flint:

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