House votes to block China from buying oil from US reserves

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House has voted to block oil from the country’s emergency stockpile from going to China. Republicans say the bill would help end what they call President Joe Biden’s “abuse of our strategic reserves.” Biden withdrew 180 million barrels from the reserve last year in a bid to halt rising gasoline prices after a ban on Russian oil imports following its invasion of Ukraine. Democrats say Republicans are trying to fix a problem of their own making. China is among numerous potential adversaries that buy U.S. oil after the GOP-led Congress lifted an export ban in 2015.  Last year, millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. reserves wound up being exported to China.