From a press release
Thursday, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks)’s Banning Oil Exports to Foreign Adversaries Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This bipartisan legislation was reintroduced with Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) earlier this year and bans China Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other sanctioned nations, from purchasing oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
This bill passed the House as an amendment to the Lower Energy Costs Act. When calling for a vote of the amendment, it received unanimous support across both sides of the aisle.
“Our foreign adversaries should not have access to something as crucial to our nation’s economy and security as our strategic reserves,” said Houlahan. “This bipartisan legislation puts a stop to a practice that should’ve ended a long time ago. Passing this bill in the House was a great step in the right direction and I hope it will be taken up by the Senate and be signed into law to protect our national security.”
In the 1970s, a ban was placed on the exporting of all U.S. oil. Congress lifted that ban in 2015 without making an exception for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. Department of Energy, which manages the SPR, conducts a competitive bidding process and automatically awards the oil contracts to the highest bidders. Chinese-owned and affiliated companies have won contracts under both President Biden’s and President Trump’s Administrations.
Last year, during Houlahan’s 63rd town hall a constituent raised this issue and asked Houlahan to do something about it. The next day her team started drafting the bill.
Representatives Houlahan and Bacon were joined by 67 cosponsors including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks).
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