The debate over whether to lift the ban on crude oil exports is picking up on Capitol Hill, and Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is pushing for removal. He explains exclusively to Breitbart News that repealing the ban would have a favorable impact on America’s agriculture and create 440,000 jobs.
On Thursday the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee will debate lifting the export ban on crude oil. The Agriculture Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the issue.
Cramer said critics argue, “Somehow lifting the oil export ban would cause the price of gasoline and fuel at the pump to also rise.” However, Cramer told Breitbart News that many independent studies show that lifting the crude oil export ban would more likely bring the price of fuel down:
Anytime you have a lot of a product – and we have a lot of oil…now that we’ve hit the wall, if we don’t have another place to sell the product, obviously production is going to stop or come down and when that happens, of course, price is going to spike again – that’s just the natural order of things, but if we can be competing in the global market place going up against Saudi Arabia – going up against Iran, that just keeps more and more production happening, creates more jobs.
Cramer pointed to recent studies that estimate there would be roughly 440,000 jobs created if the crude oil export ban were lifted.
IHS Energy estimated, “Total U.S. jobs increase due to free trade will be, on average, 394,000,” while “peak job creation in 2018 is nearly 1 million.”
The Brookings Institute adds, “Lifting the ban on crude oil exports from the United States will boost U.S. economic growth, wages, employment, trade, and overall welfare.”
“If we are going to debate free trade issues lets debate why we are unable to export crude oil. As U.S. production continues to increase it is time to end the ban on America exporting crude oil,” Cramer argued during the trade debate.
President Nixon put the ban on crude oil exports in place in the 1970s during a time of energy scarcity, but Cramer argues that times have changed.
“Technological advancement has now given America an abundance of energy production and our laws need to change to reflect the changing environment. Lifting the ban will demonstrate a commitment to free and fair trade and bolster our negotiating position on other trade issue,” Cramer stated. “It will also enhance energy security for America and her allies. For too long the world’s energy markets have been controlled by despots and dictators. It is time for America to provide the energy needs of countries across the globe and create good paying American jobs while we do it.”
Cramer told Breitbart News that other than food, energy is one of the most important things for America. “My hope is that the case can just be further made… this is an issue we haven’t explored for along time as a country,” Cramer said on his hopes for Thursday’s hearing.
Cramer also told Breitbart News that any environmental arguments that lifting the crude oil export ban would increase climate change has been disproven by President Obama’s Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz. Cramer said that Moniz disputed that argument earlier – finding lifting the ban would have no impact on climate change. Cramer said that is huge coming from Moniz who “buys into the climate change religion.”