WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-22) voted in support of H.R. 22, the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act. Rep. Valadao is an original co-sponsor of the bill, which prohibits the sale or export of petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to any entity that is owned, controlled, or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Families across the Central Valley and the nation have been struggling to keep up with the rising cost of gas and energy under the Biden administration. While Valley families suffered with record-breaking gas prices, President Biden was selling off our emergency reserves to foreign adversaries instead of reducing barriers to domestic energy production,” said Congressman Valadao. “These reserves are meant for emergency situations only, they’re not supposed to be a band-aid political fix for the President’s bad energy policies. I was proud to support this bill that would prevent the administration from implementing this irresponsible and dangerous strategy again in the future. We need to focus on increasing domestic energy production, not supporting adversaries while Americans suffer from outrageously high energy prices here at home.”

Background:

In the last two years, the Biden administration has approved the sale of nearly 250 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR – nearly 40% of the entire stockpile. According to the Department of Energy, almost $100 million dollars of worth of oil have gone to entities connected to the Chinese Communist Party.  This legislation closely mirrors Rep. Valadao’s motion on the House Floor in the 117^th Congress that would have prohibited the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to any entity under the control of the Chinese Communist Party or for export to China.

Watch Rep. Valadao’s full remarks from the 117^th Congress here. 

                                                                                                              ###