[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6953 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6953
To prohibit the importation of crude oil and petroleum products from
the Russian Federation, to impose sanctions with respect to persons
involved in the importation of such crude oil and petroleum products
who have engaged in acts of corruption or who are responsible for
serious human rights abuses, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2022
Mr. Khanna (for himself and Ms. Mace) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition
to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Oversight and
Reform, Financial Services, and the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the importation of crude oil and petroleum products from
the Russian Federation, to impose sanctions with respect to persons
involved in the importation of such crude oil and petroleum products
who have engaged in acts of corruption or who are responsible for
serious human rights abuses, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Severing Putin's Immense Gains from
Oil Transfers Act of 2022'' or the ``SPIGOT Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a
large scale invasion of Ukraine that violated Ukraine's
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
(2) In 2021, the Russian Federation became the second-
largest exporter of crude oil and petroleum products to the
United States, after Canada.
(3) In 2020, 7 percent of all petroleum imports to the
United States came from the Russian Federation, which is more
than was imported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(4) The United States private sector imported 848,000
barrels of oil from the Russian Federation per day in June
2021.
(5) From January through December 2021, the United States
imported 245,194,000 barrels of oil from the Russian
Federation, which at an annual average of $71 per barrel equals
approximately $17,400,000,000 in oil imports.
(6) As of February 2022, oil prices have risen to $92 per
barrel.
(7) According to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian
Federation, 36 percent of all revenue of the Government of the
Russian Federation came from the oil and gas sector in 2021. In
2019 and 2020, the overall percentage of revenue of that
Government that came from the oil and gas sector reached 39 and
28 percent, respectively.
(8) The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir
Putin, relies on a network of government officials, heads of
state-owned enterprises, and business leaders to maintain his
grasp on power.
(9) Russian-owned energy entities that have ties to
individuals aligned with Putin see benefits from reliance by
the United States on imports of crude oil and petroleum
products from the Russian Federation.
(10) In early 2021, political prisoner Alexei Navalny's
Anti-Corruption Foundation outlined some of the corrupt
linkages between Russian oil giant Rosneft, with key Putin ally
Igor Sechin as its head, and Vladimir Putin himself.
(11) The United States Government has already taken action
against individuals with links to the energy sector of the
Russian Federation, such as Igor Sechin, Boris and Arkady
Rotenberg, Kirill Shamalov, Viktor Vekselberg, and Sergey
Frusenko, under--
(A) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights
Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public
Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note);
(B) Executive Orders 13661 and 13662 (50 U.S.C.
1701 note; relating to blocking property of additional
persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine),
codified by section 222 of the Countering America's
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9522); and
(C) Executive Order 13582 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note;
relating to blocking property of the Government of
Syria and prohibiting certain transactions with respect
to Syria).
(12) While sanctions imposed by the United States in
response to the Russian Federation's war of aggression against
Ukraine have largely exempted the energy sector, on February
24, 2022, the United States Government announced action against
the following 2 additional individuals with links to that
sector:
(A) Ivan Sechin, son of Igor Sechin, and reportedly
a deputy head of a department at Rosneft.
(B) Andrey Patrushev, a leader of Gazprom Neft, and
son of Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev, the Secretary of
the Russian Security Council.
(13) Despite ongoing United States imports of crude oil and
petroleum products from the Russian Federation and existing
laws and policies against supporting human rights abuses, there
has been no United States Government-led analysis of the
linkages between the energy sector of the Russian Federation
and corruption or human rights abuses.
(14) Oil imported from the Russian Federation contributes
to the overall United States carbon footprint, which makes up
nearly 15 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
(15) On January 27, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden issued
Executive Order 14008 (86 Fed. Reg. 7619; relating to tackling
the climate crisis at home and abroad), which identifies
climate change as an essential element of the foreign policy
and national security strategy of the United States.
(16) The Department of Defense cites climate change as a
national security threat, noting that 100 percent of geographic
combatant commands were affected by climate-related impacts in
2019, and more than 1,700 military installations continue to be
threatened by sea-level rise. Extreme weather events have
caused more than $796,100,000,000 in damage in the United
States during the 5 years before the date of the enactment of
this Act alone.
(17) President Biden has set an economy-wide target for the
United States to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50
to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, which will require
decarbonization in the energy, buildings, and transportation
sectors.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is a sense of Congress that--
(1) the reliance of the United States on oil imported from
the Russian Federation presents a national security liability;
(2) a prohibition on imports of oil from the Russian
Federation could deprive the Russian Federation upwards of
$20,000,000,000 or more revenue from the United States in 2022;
(3) Russian energy entities are controlled by Russian
executives and oligarchs with close ties to Vladimir Putin, and
profits from the energy sector may be implicated in corruption
and in fueling human rights abuses globally and in the Russian
Federation;
(4) the United States Government must--
(A) investigate the links described in paragraph
(2) to avoid funding activities tied to human rights
abuses and corruption through the purchase of oil
imported from the Russian Federation;
(B) develop a comprehensive strategy to replace oil
imported from the Russian Federation with domestic
carbon-free energy sources; and
(C) invest in renewable energy alternatives to
replace foreign carbon-intensive energy imports; and
(5) actively decarbonizing the United States energy economy
is of vital strategic interest to the national security and
climate change reduction targets of the United States.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Foreign
Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs, and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of
the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, and the
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives.
SEC. 5. REPORT ON LINKS BETWEEN RUSSIAN ENERGY ENTITIES, HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS, AND CORRUPTION.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State,
in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the
Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report--
(1) identifying which Russian, United States, and
international entities are involved with the importation of
crude oil and petroleum products from the Russian Federation
into the United States;
(2) describing the relationship of those entities, and
members of their executive boards, with Vladimir Putin and
other Russian persons subject to sanctions imposed by the
United States;
(3) identifying whether any individuals described in
paragraph (2) or entities described in paragraph (1) have
engaged in acts of corruption or are responsible for or
complicit in, or have directly or indirectly engaged in,
serious human rights abuses;
(4) identifying the ways in which revenue generated from
the exportation of crude oil and petroleum products to the
United States and to other countries has helped insulate the
Russian economy since the United States and international
community imposed sanctions in response to the Russian
Federation's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine;
(5) identifying alternative suppliers for the importation
of crude oil and petroleum products, other than from the
Russian Federation, that minimize risks to United States
consumers;
(6) a comprehensive strategy to prioritize carbon-free
energy sources and reduction of the demand for fossil energy as
alternatives to crude oil and petroleum products imported from
the Russian Federation; and
(7) assessing why United States entities are choosing to do
business with entities described in paragraph (1) and what
advantages doing business with such entities presents.
(b) Form of Report.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION OF CRUDE OIL AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.
(a) In General.--Effective on the date that is 30 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the importation of crude oil and
petroleum products from the Russian Federation into the United States
is prohibited.
(b) Presidential Waiver.--
(1) In general.--The President may waive the prohibition
under subsection (a) for a period of not more than one year
if--
(A) the report required by section 5 has been
submitted to the appropriate congressional committees;
and
(B) the President submits to the appropriate
congressional committees a certification that--
(i) the importation of crude oil and
petroleum products from the Russian Federation
does not pose a significant risk to the
national security of the United States; and
(ii) a prohibition on the importation of
crude oil and petroleum products from the
Russian Federation would unduly impact energy
prices for United States consumers.
(2) Renewal.--The President may renew a waiver issued under
paragraph (1) on annual basis if, before the termination date
of the previous waiver--
(A) the most recent report required by section 5
has been submitted to the appropriate congressional
committees; and
(B) the President submits to the appropriate
congressional committees a certification described in
paragraph (1)(B).
(3) Form of certification.--A certification submitted under
paragraph (1)(B) or (2)(B) shall be submitted in unclassified
form but may include a classified annex.
SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.
(a) In General.--Upon receiving a report required by section 5, the
President shall use the authorities provided by the provisions of law
specified in subsection (b) to impose sanctions with respect to any
foreign individual or entity identified under section 5(a)(3) as having
engaged in acts of corruption or who are responsible for or complicit
in, or have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights
abuses.
(b) Provisions of Law Specified.--The provisions of law specified
in this subsection are the following:
(1) The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act
(subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328; 22 U.S.C. 2656
note).
(2) The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of
2012 (title IV of Public Law 112-208; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note).
(3) Title II of the Countering America's Adversaries
Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9501 et seq.).
(4) The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
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