The bill to liberalize US crude export laws passed the US Senate Banking Committee on Oct. 1, but sources say that the legislation will have to face exceptionally steep headwinds before it can become law. In order to pass the full Senate, the bill would require considerable bipartisan support, but that seems unlikely to materialize after Senator Pat Toomey (R.-PA) added an amendment linking the legislation to Iran. The amendment would require Middle-Eastern country to pay US citizens $43B in court-ordered restitution for Iranian-backed terrorism before sanctions are lifted—an ultimatum that Democrats say leave the bill dead in the water. Senator Toomey said that removing the crude export ban would yield only slight benefits for residents of his home state, and raised concerns about the impact on the refining industry—which relies on cheap domestic crude—and the US shipping industry that delivers the same oil. Toomey's state of Pennsylvania is home to the East Coast's major refinery and one of only two operational shipbuilding facilities in the US.
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