US House bans emergency oil sales to Chinese Communist Party-linked entities in rebuke to Biden policy

Republicans argue the American leader’s decision last year to release 180 million barrels from the national reserve hurt energy security

Bill next goes to Democratic-controlled Senate, where passage is expected to be difficult amid criticism the legislation achieves little

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An aerial view of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage in Freeport, Texas. Photo: Getty Images North America/AFP

Published: 6:10am, 13 Jan 2023Updated: 9:00pm, 13 Jan 2023

The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted to ban sales of petroleum products from America’s emergency crude oil supply to any entity linked to the Chinese Communist Party – marking only the third bill passed in the new Republican-controlled chamber since the session began last week.

The Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act was one of the Republican Party’s top agenda items heading into the new Congress. The bill’s passage is seen as a rebuke to President Joe Biden’s decision last year to authorise the largest-ever sale from the nation’s reserve, some of which went to Chinese buyers.

The House voted 331-97 for the legislation, with almost half the chamber’s Democrats opposing it.

Next the bill goes to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where passage is expected to be difficult. Yet along with the recently approved House select committee on US-China competition, the legislation sends a clear message that China as it relates to US national interests will be a focal point for Washington policymakers.

The bill prohibits the US energy secretary from selling petroleum products from the reserve “to any entity that is under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party” or from exporting any such products to China.

US congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s energy policy. Photo: AP

Biden’s move last year to release 180 million barrels in emergency sales from the nation’s oil reserve after global gas prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent US inventories to their lowest levels since 1984.