House Expected to Pass Bill Axing US Oil Export

A bill that would repeal a 40-year-old ban on US exports of crude oil cleared its first major hurdle Friday, winning approval from the House of Representatives amid disarray within the Republican Party’s leadership and opposition from the Obama administration that all but erased its prospects for becoming law.

But Republicans want to make sure any bill they pass can survive a veto by President Barack Obama.

However, the White House threatened to veto the bill on Wednesday, saying it “is not needed at this time”.

However, Allied Progress, a group which opposes lifting the existing restrictions, downplayed the significance of the vote. The measure now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

The U.S.is also already exporting more than a half-million barrels of crude a day to Canada, the biggest exemption under the ban.

“Lifting the 40-year old ban on exporting crude oil does nothing to help the average American family, as it would only raise gas prices while lining the pockets of wealthy polluters”, the League of Conservation Voters said.

More than a dozen oil companies, including Hess Corp., ConocoPhillips, and Encana Corp., as a coalition have been pressing the issue with Congress for more than a year.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas speaks following the passage of his bill to end the ban on crude oil exports. Companies involved in the program employ union workers, a traditional Democratic ally, and run ports and dock vessels, in coastal areas often represented by Democrats. This isn’t partisan rhetoric – in fact, the respected, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that enacting H.R. 702 will return $1.4 billion of economic benefit to the American people. Greens say additional energy drilling will harm the environment. They wrote: “The USA remains the great arsenal of democracy”.

Lifting the ban would reset USA trade policy on domestic crude to the way it was before the ban was implemented – again, because the circumstances today are completely different from those that existed then.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Banking Committee have approved similar bills to lift the oil export ban in the past few weeks. They argue that allowing oil exports would eliminate market distortions, create jobs and stimulate more USA petroleum production, which has increased 80% since 2008 and has helped drive down the global price of oil to half what it was in summer 2014.

It boils down to this: A vote for the bill would be a vote for U.S.jobs, economic growth, trade benefits and strengthened American security.

The House was set to consider 10 amendments on Friday, but the biggest test is a proposal from Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., to strip out a provision in the bill that would funnel $500 million in federal dollars to to U.S.-flag ships willing to be used by the Defense Department in an emergency.