DENVER — Who is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Russian President Vladimir Putin?
The Colorado Republican Party has blamed both President Joe Biden and Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.
In a statement last week, Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown said that Biden and Bennet "both failed to support strong sanctions on Russian energy."
Bennet supported a Democrat-led bill for Russian sanctions, but opposed one led by Republicans.
"I didn't see that statement, but I think Vladimir Putin, a thug and a tyrant, is to blame here," Bennet said.
In an interview with 9NEWS Politics Guy Marshall Zelinger ahead of the State of the Union, Bennet talked about the next steps.
(Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for context and clarity.)
Zelinger: The U.S. response to the Russian invasion, with economic sanctions, has been called "unprecedented." If the conflict continues and the U.S. has made unprecedented decisions never been done before, what's left?
Bennet: Well, what's really important, I think, and really unprecedented, has been the global cooperation that has been led by the United States of America, I'm proud to say. And I don't think Putin was expecting to see this type of resolve, and probably what he's expecting is that we're not going to be able to hang together. I think he will see that we will hang together, and that the United States, next week, will be passing almost $4 billion worth of aid to Ukraine. Next week, I expect us to pass the aid that I mentioned earlier, and then we'll have to consider what else there is to do.
This isn't just an attack on Ukraine. This is an attack on democracy. What I am very pleased by is that the United States, after some years of questioning whether there was any value in the transatlantic alliance, whether there was any value in NATO, we now see the value of NATO, we now see the value of the transatlantic alliance and, I would say, we now see the value of American leadership.
Zelinger: Democratic Gov. Jared Polis took time in his statement last week on the Russian invasion to say Congress needs to suspend the federal gas tax (18 cents per gallon). With gas prices expected to climb, should that be something Congress considers right now?
Bennet: I definitely think we should consider that, and we should consider a whole host of things to try to lower prices for people. I had asked the administration to extend a waiver that was allowing truck drivers to have a few more hours because we've got such a shortage of truck drivers in this country, and they've just agreed to do that. That also will have an effect on lowering prices.
Zelinger: What do you say to people who believe this Russian invasion requires American boots on the ground or, perhaps, nukes in the air?
Bennet: I strongly disagree with that. I think that we are doing the right things by marshaling the world's democracies against this tyrant, this thug in Russia. And what we have to do, is we can't let up. I do not support American troops on the ground in Ukraine, no.
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