Vulnerable Dem senators vote for Ted Cruz amendment to ban Biden from selling oil to CCP
Three Senate Democrats who are in tough reelection fights voted for an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz Sunday that would ban U.S. oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve from being sold to China -- but the amendment needed 60 total votes and did not pass.
The amendment from Cruz, R-Texas, is in reaction to recent reports that some of the oil President Biden has released from the United States' reserves eventually went to China. That outraged Republicans, who have attacked Biden on his energy policy since he entered office.
Sens. Catherine Cortez Maso, D-Nev., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. -- all up for reelection -- voted yes in the 54-46 vote. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., also joined those senators in voting in the affirmative.
Cruz's amendment needed 60 votes to overcome a point of order because it did not conform with the Senate's Byrd Rule.
Biden's administration has fired back at Republicans for the claim that it's sent oil to China.
"This accusation is ridiculous and false, and if they took the initiative to examine some basic facts, they would see that," White House Spokesman Ian Sams told Fox News' Brooke Singman.
Sams explained that when oil is released from the SPR, the U.S. Department of Energy is "required by law to sell it ‘in a competitive auction to the highest bidder,’ regardless of whether that bidder is a foreign company."
Cruz, meanwhile, says Democrats' bill, which Biden backs, in and of itself will harm U.S. energy.
"This bill represents the most significant assault on U.S. energy production the Senate has ever considered," Cruz said. "It is designed to bankrupt every coal miner in America, to dramatically increase gas prices consumers are paying, and to permanently harm US oil and gas production."
Posted by Tyler Olson
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/senate-set-for-vote-a-rama-on-democrats-social-spending-and-tax-bill-live-updates
