The House will vote this month on legislation to lift the nation’s 40-year-old ban on exporting crude oil, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to announce today.
McCarthy, R-Calif., who will deliver a speech in Houston, Texas outlining the GOP’s fall energy agenda, plans to say that the ban on U.S. oil exports is outdated and limits global economic opportunities for America.
The House vote is planned for the last week of September, a GOP aide said.
“If there was ever a time to lift the oil export ban, it’s now,” McCarthy plans to tell the Greater Houston Partnership, a business group. “This outdated policy from the 1970’s was created in a time when people thought peak oil was just on the horizon and scarcity left Americans waiting in lines to get gasoline. Lifting the oil export ban will not only help our economy, it will also bolster our geopolitical standing.”
Republicans have for weeks been advancing legislation to lift the ban. The Senate energy committee passed legislation lifting the oil ban ahead of the August break. A House subcommittee approved a similar measure last week.
President Obama is expected to veto the measure because it wants the administration to decide what to do about exporting oil, not Congress.
Democratic opponents say exporting U.S. oil would hurt jobs and hinder the nation’s effort to become energy independent.
