Republican-held majorities in both the House and Senate have missed one golden opportunity after the next to force President Obama’s hand heading into next year’s elections.
Rather than spending this past year showcasing the ideological and common-sense divide between the GOP and the president, Republican lawmakers have been content to sit on their hands. Instead of passing scores of well-liked bills and daring the president to commit political suicide by vetoing legislation the public overwhelmingly supports, GOP leaders let mountains of popular proposals pile up on their desks.
Now, with only about two weeks left on this year’s legislative calendar, there is just one more chance left for Republicans to take a principled stand for what’s best for America: the battle over ending the ban on crude oil exports.
The congressional ban on exporting unrefined domestic oil was imposed in 1975, following the Arab oil embargo, as a method to ensure Americans had a stable oil supply. Thanks to new technologies, the United States recently surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer. America produces more oil than we can use. As a result, the policy prohibiting oil exports has far outlived whatever usefulness it had 40 years ago.
Ending the senseless ban preventing the United States from exporting our extra oil would be a godsend to our economy. The Brookings Institution begged lawmakers to accept “data over ideology” after its report determined that lifting the ban could mean an additional $1.8 trillion flowing into the U.S. economy and as many as 400,000 new jobs by 2020 — with no ill effects to Americans.
Even the administration’s own study from the U.S. Energy Information Administration admitted that exporting surplus U.S. oil wouldn’t negatively impact American consumers, or increase energy or fuel costs.
Further, the push to end the export ban has extensive bipartisan support. The House, notorious for pursuing only partisan policies, passed a bill last month ending the ban with the support of 26 Democrats. Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota is leading the charge in the Senate to overturn the export ban.
Ending the ban on oil exports would also improve relations with key allies and increase global security. Many of America’s closest friends in Asia, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, are forced to import more than 90 percent of their sources of energy. Because these valuable allies can’t import oil from the U.S., they are forced to rely on dubious partners, such as Russia and Iran, for their energy needs.
Not only would ending our oil export ban strengthen the bonds with our most reliable allies in Asia, there’s even a new white paper published by the American Council for Capital Formation arguing that easing energy export restrictions would likely thaw currently chilly U.S.-China relations.
China is not energy poor, but growing energy demand has outpaced Chinese production, and the country lacks the infrastructure to effectively develop and transport its energy resources. Consequently, China looks to outside sources — largely Russia — to meet these needs. If the U.S. weren’t hamstrung by energy policies stuck in a time when 8-track tape players ruled the day, we could sell China our excess oil and foster a more collaborative, constructive relationship as a result.
Congress needs to act fast to make sure the president has the opportunity to sign legislation to end America’s oil export ban into law. And if President Obama threatens to veto the bill — something that would fly in the face of his professed support of free trade — Republicans must be prepared to hold his feet to the fire.
The GOP can choose to end the export ban by including the proposal’s language into either of the year-end omnibus spending bills. Obama would be insane to veto a bill to fund the government or pay for highway repairs over a provision that would boost the county’s moribund economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
Congressional Republicans in search of a victory finally have the opportunity to force President Obama’s hand and benefit the country in the process. There’s no good reason why America shouldn’t be ringing in 2016 by exporting our extra oil to our friends who need it, and who are willing to pay American workers good money for it.
Drew Johnson is a Senior Scholar at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. Visit TPA online at www.protectingtaxpayers.org. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
