The sponsor of a bill that would ban U.S. crude oil sales to China, which the House advanced last week in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, blamed President Joe Biden in a statement for the nation's ongoing energy and inflation crisis.
U.S. House Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) issued her statement shortly after swift passage of House Resolution 22, which would ban the U.S. Department of Energy's crude oil sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to China or any entity controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"To cover up his failed policies driving our energy and inflation crisis, President Biden is draining our nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserves at an alarming rate," McMorris Rodgers said in her statement. America's SPR – once the world's largest stockpile – has been depleted to the lowest levels since 1983. To date, President Biden has released more from the SPR than all U.S. presidents in history combined."
Millions of those barrels of oil went to China, "which now has the world's largest government-controlled stockpile of oil," McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said.
"Draining our strategic reserves for political purposes and selling it to China is a significant threat to our national and energy security," she said. "This must be stopped, which is why I'm proud to join my Republican colleagues in passing HR 22, one of the most bipartisan votes on an energy bill in many years and multiple Congresses."
It won't stop with HR 22, McMorris Rodgers said.
"There's more to come," she said. "This is just the beginning."
McMorris Rodgers' HR 22, the Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act, introduced into the House on Jan. 9, passed that body 331 to 97 three days later following only an hour of debate.
While there were no Democrats among the bill's 68 co-sponsors, 113 House Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill.
HR 22 is not expected to be taken up in the Democrat-controlled Senate, ABC News reported.
As of Jan. 6, there were 371.58 million barrels of oil in the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, representing a decrease of more than 37% from one year ago, according to Ycharts.
China bought more than 490,000 barrels of oil from the U.S. between 2016 and 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The day after HR 22 advanced in the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee released highlights of House members who spoke in support of the legislation.
"The Republican majority is wasting no time in making good on our commitment to the American people to reverse this reckless agenda that the Biden administration has followed," Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) said. "Republicans understand that energy policy is foundational to a thriving and dynamic national economy."
Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) said the country has seen an unprecedented level of hostility toward America's energy producers in the first two years of the Biden administration.
"The administration has made every effort to undermine, avoid and restrict oil and gas production in North America while at the same time moving to drain our strategic reserves in an attempt to offset the price increases caused by the president’s own policies," Latta said.
The problem the country faces today is because of Biden and the Democrats, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said.
"That's the problem we're here to address," Guthrie said. "The price of gasoline hit over $5 a gallon in the height of this war on oil. (Approximately) $4.80 a gallon in Kentucky when it was just over $2.20 when President Biden took office."
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) said it's wrong to try to cover up failed policies by drawing down these reserves.
"But doing it and then selling that oil to China, our chief adversary, is un-American," Bilirakis said.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) said Biden sold valuable Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China while Americans face the highest energy prices in a generation and the government has "failed to adequately address it."
"Every barrel sold to China makes that decision even more damaging," he said.
McMorris Rodgers' appointment to chair the Energy and Commerce Committee was historic.
"Growing up in Kettle Falls, I never would have imagined that someday I would be the first woman in history to chair the House's most powerful committee: Energy and Commerce," she said in a Jan. 11 Facebook post. "Today, I am grateful to have officially become the chair and I am ready to get to work on solutions for the American people!"
