Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve From China Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address a drafting error in this bill.

The stated goal of H.R. 22 is to prevent aid to China and lower U.S. energy costs. As written, it is going to have the opposite effect.

Run the math. In 2022, the SPR released about 210 million barrels of oil. Most of that was consumed domestically, a small fraction was exported, and a smaller fraction may have gone to China. During the same period of time, domestic oil producers exported more than 10 times that volume, so roughly 100 times the volume that was exported from that portion of our SPR that happens to be above ground.

So the failure to include U.S. producers in the export prohibition means that this bill will do nothing to limit Chinese access to American oil. But since the SPR releases--as the majority notes--do reduce oil prices, curtailing our ability to use that tool will drive prices up and transfer wealth from U.S. consumers to U.S. producers in places like Bakersfield, California, as they sell higher priced oil to China.

Now, I cannot imagine that the Speaker intended to enrich his neighbors so that they could profit from Chinese oil sales, so I would encourage him to vote ``no.''

I would also encourage anyone who seeks to prioritize United States access to United States energy to oppose until we can make the necessary corrections to this bill.

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