Statement on House Vote to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban
Allied Progress Counters Smoke and Mirrors Argument that Momentum is on Big Oil’s Side: It’s “All Hat and No Cattle”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of lifting the 40-year old crude oil export ban, which blocks a majority of raw American crude oil from being shipped overseas. While the bill cleared the House, it does not have sufficient support to pass in the Senate, and The White House has threatened to veto any change to current policy.
Allied Progress released the following statement from executive director Karl Frisch in response to the House vote:
“For more than a year now, oil and gas executives and their lobbyists have been walking the halls of Congress urging Members on both sides of the aisle to lift the crude oil export ban. Despite their best efforts and millions of dollars spent, the bill that passed in the House today has little chance of succeeding in the Senate and would be effectively dead on arrival if it ever reaches the President’s desk.
“Big oil is all hat and no cattle when it comes to their claims of momentum in the face of these facts. Today’s vote was nothing more than another piece of meaningless political theater by a dysfunctional House of Representatives that routinely passes legislation with no hope of success. Even oil market analysts, oil company executives, and journalists who cover the oil industry say that legislation to lift the ban is almost certain to fail this Congress.
“Rather than continuing to waste the time of the American people trying to ram through a doomed bill that could cost thousands of American jobs, increase gas prices, and squander America’s chance at energy independence, Members should focus their attention on finding a leader who can help Congress get back to the business of real lawmaking. In case they forgot, their job is to serve the American people, not their political benefactors at oil and gas companies.”
In August and September, Allied Progress ran television and online ads in six states calling on Senators to oppose any efforts to lift the ban. The group also released a fact sheet outlining some of the potential damaging impacts of lifting the ban.
A recent national survey found that a strong majority of Americans agree with the position held by Allied Progress, the President, and others. In the survey, nearly 70 percent of all respondents were opposed to allowing oil and gas companies to export more U.S. oil and gas to foreign countries, including 61 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of independents, and 75 percent of Democrats.
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