It’s another Hunter Biden day in the Republican House of Representatives, though in this case they’re pretending that it’s about high gas prices, which isn’t so much a thing these days, with a bill that doesn’t do anything about energy costs anyway. The House is going to vote on legislation to prohibit sales from the Strategic Oil Reserve to China. It will also never see the light of day in the Senate.
It does, however, provide the House GOP another opportunity to try put the gloss of legitimacy on yet another of their conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. That theory is that the sale of about 1 million barrels of oil last year was directed to Unipec America, which is a subsidiary of a Chinese company, Sinopec. At one time Hunter Biden’s private equity firm invested in Sinopec in an investment fund which, Biden’s lawyers say, he has no stake.
Republicans don’t explicitly say this is about Hunter Biden, they say that the SPR is not supposed to be used as a stockpile for export. Except that’s not true, either. The law requires that the government sells the crude to the highest bidders, unless those companies are under U.S. sanction. Those sales can go to companies any country or to international subsidiaries of U.S. companies—in the sale in question the crude went to the Netherlands, India, and China. The sales are intended to ease shortages globally, because the oil market is indeed global, and pressure oil producing nations into keeping prices reasonable.
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So anyway, for months last summer, the GOP and their gutter press was consumed by the conspiracy theory that President Biden directed this sale specifically to help his son. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for example, who tweeted: “Pres Biden reportedly sold oil fr[om] American reserves to China’s Sinopec which Hunter Biden may still b[e] tied to via his financial ventures in China. If report correct that’s OUTRAGEOUS.”
It is, of course, not true. The president and the Department of Energy don’t determine who gets the contract from SPR sales or what happens to that crude—it can lawfully be exported. “[T]he SPR cannot dictate whether or not companies export crude oil received from the reserve,” the Energy Department’s press secretary, Charisma Troiano, explained at the time. “U.S. companies are permitted to place bids on SPR crude oil; DOE cannot dictate what selected bidders will do with the SPR crude oil after delivery.”
Also: “Data collected by the Department of Energy shows the Trump administration sold half a million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserves to PetroChina in Trump’s first year in office.”
So anyway, that’s what the House is doing today. Nothing to help lower energy costs, but taking another pot shot at the Biden family. Then they’ll leave until Jan. 24.
The Senate remains out until then, but does see some action today. Pete Ricketts, a former Republican governor for Nebraska, has been appointed by his successor and current Gov. Jim Pillen (R) to fill out the remainder of Sen. Ben Sasse’s term. He resigned to go be president of the University Florida. Sasse would have had until 2026 in the seat, but Nebraska law dictates that the appointment can only run tunnel the next statewide election, which will be 2024.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had been pressing for a Ricketts appointment since Sasse made his intentions to leave clear last fall. The intention of everybody is for Ricketts to run for the seat in both 2024 and then again in 2026. Pillen said in announcing the appointment, “Placeholders don’t have any accountability to the people.”
Leave it to the Daily Kos Elections team - to have the key history here: “Ricketts lost the 2006 #NESEN contest to Dem Ben Nelson 64-36, making him the last Nebraska Republican to ever lose a statewide general election.”
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On the first episode of season two of The Downballot, we're talking with Sara Garcia, the strategy and outreach manager at Crooked Media—home of Pod Save America—about everything her organization does to mobilize progressives and kick GOP ass. Sara tells us how Crooked arose to fill a void in the media landscape, how it not only informs listeners but also gives them tools to take action, and some of her favorite shows that she loves to recommend to folks.
Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss the Republican shitshow currently unfolding in Congress—and starkly different outcomes in two state legislatures that just elected new House speakers via bipartisan coalitions; the landslide win for the good guys in a special election primary in Virginia; why George Santos faces serious legal trouble that will very likely end with his resignation; and the massive pushback from progressive groups and labor unions against Kathy Hochul's conservative pick to be New York's top judge.
