A bipartisan bill that would limit the sales of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to groups controlled by Communist China was filed Wednesday the Sens Joe Manchin, the Democrat from West Virginia and Ted Cruz, the Republican from Texas.
It has the support of a bipartisan group of senators including Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas and Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas.
Others are: Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
The bill declares that companies under the ownership or control of the Chinese government would not be able to acquire oil from the SPR. A similar version was filed in the House.
“This bill would ensure that we are not risking our energy security by selling our petroleum reserves to China, and the bipartisan support this legislation has received shows just how important it is for America to be energy secure and independent,” Manchin said in a statement.
Read more about the bill here.