NEW YORK – The Protect European Energy Security Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in May of this year, was approved on July 31 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By a vote of 20-2, the committee approved a bill (S 1441) that would impose targeted sanctions against vessels used to construct deep sea pipelines for Russian energy export projects, including Nord Stream 2.