Kelly votes to protect America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, prohibits Biden administration's sales to China
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) voted in favor of H.R. 22, The Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act. The bill prohibits the sale and export of crude oil from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to any entity which is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
This legislation comes after revelations that the Biden Administration sold off part of the U.S. SPR to CCP owned entities.
In March 2022, Rep. Kelly published this op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette warning of President Biden's push to use the SPR to curb soaring gas prices and the national security concerns that come with draining the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
"Congress has an obligation to the American people to protect our nation's energy reserves for our use, not for use by China or other adversaries," Rep. Kelly said. "President Biden's decision to deplete the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices was always short-sighted because now, gas prices in Western Pennsylvania are still nearly $4 a gallon and the Reserves are half of what they were when he took office. Selling our reserves to our adversaries makes our nation weaker, especially when refilling those reserves could take years to do. This bill protects our oil reserves and ensures they are for America, not China. House Republicans' pro-American energy policy works to make the United States less reliant on foreign energy, not more."
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE FAST FACTS
- The Biden administration has sold or withdrawn 42% of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve supply.
- 638 million barrels of oil were in the reserves in Jan. 2021 when President Biden took office. 371 million barrels are in the reserves as of Jan. 2023.
- The SPR is only intended to be used for actual oil supply interruptions, such as
when an offshore production platform is shuttered due to a hurricane or a national
security event. - The Biden administration sold off 1 million barrels of oil from the SPR every day beginning in May 2022 until last year’s midterm election to distract from its disastrous energy policies that discourage American energy production.
BACKGROUND
The bill prohibits the sale and export of crude oil from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to any entity which is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Further, the bill requires that the Department of Energy require as a condition of any sale of crude oil from the SPR, that such oil not be exported to China.
According to the Department of Energy, in April 2022, the Biden Administration sold nearly one million barrels of SPR oil to Unipec America, a subsidiary of Sinopec, a company owned by the Chinese Communist Party, at $103.30 a barrel for a total of about $98 million.
Last year, House Oversight Committee Republicans sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting all documents related to this decision to sell such oil to China.