Texas Republican Rep. Randy Weber is reintroducing legislation Wednesday that would prevent the nation’s oil reserves from ending up in the hands of the Chinese government.
The “Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve From China Act” would prohibit the Department of Energy from selling crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China or any entity owned, controlled or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.
The bill, shared first with POLITICO’s E&E News, is the latest attempt by Congress to ensure that the United States’ emergency oil reserves do not go to geopolitical adversaries. Republicans in the 117th Congress launched an investigation into the Biden administration’s sale of nearly 1 million barrels to a Chinese-linked company.
“It is outrageous — and downright dangerous — that anyone in the White House could approve such a move, putting our national security at risk and sticking hardworking American taxpayers with the bill to refill it,” Weber said in a statement.
