U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, released a statement on Thursday in response to the White House position to veto a bill that would lift the U.S. oil exports ban.
In her statement, Murkowski hit back against the Obama Administration’s statement that “legislation to remove crude export restrictions is not needed at this time”.
Murkowski said: “It is unfortunate that the White House fails to understand the national security and geopolitical benefits of lifting the ban on oil exports. Ask Poland, which is 96 percent reliant on Russia for its oil, or Japan, which must continue to rely on Iran, if U.S. oil ‘is not needed at this time.’ The veto threat reveals a fundamental misalignment within the administration. These policy contradictions merit further attention.”
To remind, in a White House statement from Wednesday , it was said that if the President were presented with H.R. 702, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
“Regardless of what the president’s advisers may tell him, congressional legislation has become necessary: even though he has the authority to act, he has not – even though the time is right, the need is clear, and the global dividends promise to be significant,” Murkowski concluded.
In July, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Murkowski, supported her bipartisan bill , the Offshore Production and Energizing National Security Act (S. 2011). According to the Committee, if enacted, the bill would fully repeal the outdated restrictions on exporting American oil while preserving the emergency authorities of the president to act during emergencies.