House Speaker Paul Ryan says lifting the decades-old ban on oil exports will be “like having 100 Keystone pipelines” as he beats back criticisms Republicans lost out by trading oil exports for extended green energy subsidies.
“Having the oil export ban lifted permanently is like having 100 Keystone pipelines, and it’s really good for foreign policy,” Ryan said on The Hugh Hewitt Show Monday.
Congress passed two massive budget and tax bills last week to avoid a government shutdown. As part of a compromise to pass the bills, Democrats agreed to lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports in exchange for extending subsidies for wind energy and solar panels another five years. Conservative groups have largely condemned the concession, but Republican lawmakers have tried justifying the trade.
“It helps us put OPEC out of business. It’s not good for Venezuela, the Middle East, Russia, and others,” Ryan told Hugh Hewitt.
After President Barack Obama vetoed Keystone XL legislation in February, Republican lawmakers refocused their energy efforts to lifting the 1970s-era ban on exporting domestically-produced crude oil. The GOP argues lifting the oil export ban would allow the U.S. energy boom to continue and create more jobs.
While conservatives groups generally supported lifting the export ban, they were wary of what Republicans would trade to meet their policy goals.
“The Republicans are right to fight for lifting the oil export ban, as it would reduce gasoline prices for families and enhance U.S. energy security,” Tom Pyle, president of the free market American Energy Alliance, wrote in a recent blog post. “But not at any price.”
“Republicans in Congress have opposed President Obama’s carbon regulations throughout this year, yet this bill provides an additional five years of this subsidy that is critical for the implementation of these regulations,” echoed Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Republican lawmakers, however, defended their votes for the $1.1 trillion budget bill and $700 billion tax package, arguing the bills reflected “the priorities of the American people.”
“It stops unnecessary and harmful White House proposals and regulations that hinder growth and job creation, and that harm the very industries that make our nation and our economy strong – including eliminating a 40-year-old ban on the U.S. export of crude oil,” Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who chairs the House appropriations committee, said on the budget bill’s passage.
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