US senators have recently introduced legislation to strengthen the ban on selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to China. The bill, led by Senators Joni Ernst and John Fetterman, seeks to ensure that Chinese government-owned companies do not have access to SPR oil. Senators Bob Casey, Sherrod Brown, and Tom Cotton have also joined as co-sponsors of the bill.
The bipartisan effort aims to safeguard America’s energy security and prevent adversarial nations like China from exploiting taxpayer-subsidized oil reserves. The bill not only restricts oil sales to China but also prohibits exports to countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Syria.
The push for stricter measures comes in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to sell a record-breaking 180 million barrels of SPR oil to stabilize fuel prices following the Ukraine crisis. Concerns over national security and economic vulnerabilities have prompted lawmakers to take decisive action to protect the country’s energy resources from foreign interference.
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