[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E44]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PROTECTING AMERICA'S STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE FROM CHINA ACT

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                               speech of

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 12, 2023

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to provide remarks on H.R. 22. 
Republicans brought H.R. 22, the Protecting America's Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve from China Act, to the House Floor today to prohibit 
selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.
  This legislation would not be necessary if the previous Republican 
majority hadn't lifted a ban on crude oil exports, in place since 1975, 
at the urging of their Big Oil friends in 2015.
  China has now exploited this harmful Republican policy change by 
purchasing and stockpiling American crude oil. U.S. exports of crude 
oil to China increased nearly 100-fold under President Trump. During 
the Trump administration, U.S. oil companies sent over 391 million 
barrels of crude oil to China.
  House Democrats had legislation (the Buy low and Sell High Act) that 
would go further to protect American interests by not only banning the 
export of Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil to China, but also to 
adversaries such as North Korea, Russia, Iran, and any other country 
under U.S. sanctions. If Republicans really wanted to tackle this 
issue, they would have worked with us in a bipartisan manner to pass 
this legislation last Congress.
  Republicans passed this legislation to fix a political problem they 
created for themselves, which in the end, doesn't solve the problem.

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