Biden’s Decision on Nord Stream 2 Faces Opposition from Both Sides of the Aisle

December 15, 2021

President Biden’s non-sensical energy policies are getting him into more trouble with Congress. As Axios reports, Members of Congress are fuming that the Biden administration is allowing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be completed:

Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a Democrat who led a congressional delegation to Ukraine this weekend, tells Axios that President Biden is wrong to allow the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to move forward while Russia is threatening to invade Ukraine.

Why it matters: Gallego views Nord Stream 2 as “interlinked” with the security situation in Ukraine. The Putin-backed pipeline would bypass Ukrainian gas infrastructure and deliver Russian energy directly to Germany, eliminating one of Kyiv’s last deterrents against an invasion.

• Gallego said Biden is “incorrect” in thinking he can balance the U.S.-Germany relationship with the security risks the pipeline poses to Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

• “Nord Stream 2 is going to be another weapon in the toolbox of Russia, and we need to stop it before it really gets going,” Gallego said during a phone interview.

It’s worth noting that in a Congress where Republicans and Democrats seem unable to agree on anything, there is a growing consensus that Biden’s international pipeline policies seem inherently flawed and dangerous. As The Washington Post reported last week:

While the administration might have leverage over Russia now, it’s likely to evaporate if Nord Stream 2 is finished.

“Once gas starts to flow in Nord Stream 2, it will be hard to reverse,” William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during the George W. Bush administration, told The Early. “It’s leverage now. That leverage shifts to Russia once the pipeline starts to function, once gas starts to flow.”

Beyond the Nord Stream 2’s implications for Russia and Ukraine, the Biden approach toward pipelines is maddening in its inconsistencies. While President Biden looks the other way as Vladimir Putin installs a pipeline that will be worth billions, he simultaneously takes aggressive actions to derail pipelines that would deliver jobs and affordable energy to Americans. That is what happened with Keystone XL, and that is what is now occurring with the administration exploring the shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline between Canada and Michigan.

When it comes to setting energy and/or foreign policy, allowing America’s geopolitical adversaries to have access to pipelines while taking them away from Americans makes no sense. Americans should be questioning why the Biden administration continues to make decisions that make their lives more difficult.