The Katy (Texas) News
Sen. Cruz Introduces NDAA Amendment to Protect America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China
Jul 14, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced his Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act as an amendment to the NDAA. The amendment prohibits the Department of Energy (DOE) from selling petroleum products (e.g., crude oil) from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to any entity under the ownership, control, or influence of the Chinese Communist Party. It also requires DOE, as a condition of any sale of crude oil from the SPR, to ensure the oil will not be exported to China.
About the introduction of this legislation as an NDAA amendment, Sen. Cruz said, “The original intent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was to ensure that America had sufficient oil reserves in the event of an emergency. We are unnecessarily and dangerously undermining our national security in any instance that we sell any part of this stockpile to the Chinese Communist Party or any company under its control. I’m proud to lead the bipartisan effort to stop this from happening in the future and unleash American energy.”
The original legislation was co-led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and co-sponsored by Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Angus King (I-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). The U.S. House of Representatives passed similar legislation by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 331-97, with 113 House Democrats voting in support of the bill.
Read the original legislation here.
Background:
Sen. Cruz introduced the No Emergency Crude Oil for Foreign Adversaries Act to ensure that SPR crude oil is not exported to nations that are adversaries of the United States. He introduced it in 2022 and again this year.
In 2020, Sen. Cruz led the fight to protect America and Texas’s energy producers from Russia and Saudi Arabia, who were exploiting the pandemic to flood the global oil market.
Sen. Cruz led the fight against Russia’s dominance of European energy, and specifically Putin’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He secured passage of the sanctions that stopped the pipeline during the Trump administration and a second bill expanding the sanctions. He led the battle to force the Biden administration to impose his sanctions halting the pipeline.
Sen. Cruz uses the annual national defense appropriations process year after year after year after year to include dozens of reforms and amendments supporting America’s Armed Forces in their fight for freedom. His amendments have dedicated billions of dollars for military construction projects in Texas, fought Chinese infiltration of American universities, banned China from and included Taiwan in Pacific military exercises, protected Europe’s energy security from Russian aggression, and supported space-based missile interception efforts to better protect the United States.