The White House stated that President Joe Biden would veto a House bill that would ban the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.
JustTheNews reports that the position of the White House is that the idea that oil would be sold to China from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a non-issue..
Energy Secretary Granholm said that this kind of restriction will do nothing except pose a potential risk to gas prices and that this idea is a non-starter with the White House. The Secretary said the following:
So Ill be very clear: If Congress were to pass H.R. 21 (the Strategic Production Response Act), the president would veto it. He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the Protecting Americas Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act, according to JustTheNews, and she said:
So, look, I think this is a little bit of what the Secretary was talking about just moments ago. This bill addresses a non-issue; were very clear on that. We focus were focused on advancing legislation that would lower costs for American families, not raise them.
The bill passed the House earlier this month by a vote of 331-97. The only nay votes came from a minority of Democrats, but even most Democrats are on board with the idea of banning sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China. With this kind of bipartisan support, it is curious why the White House is saying so firmly that it will not back up the idea of disallowing any sales to China from our Strategic Reserve of oil.
The Energy Secretary said the following about it, according to JustTheNews:
The whole point of this is that this Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a tool that we have, that we can control. We may not be able to control the weather. We may not be able to control what happens at OPEC+ or China. But we can control what we have access to, and thats why this tool is so incredibly important.
She suggested that if Biden signed the Republican-backed measure, gas prices would go up because we would have lost at least some control over the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. She said that the usefulness of this Strategic Reserve is to provide supply of oil when needed.
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