US Senator Lisa Murkowski last week declared that Washington lawmakers needed to re-examine the long-standing ban on most crude oil exports "for what I consider to be substantive policy reasons." The Alaska Republican has long been a supporter of easing the restrictions, and her stance is not new. But the tone at the hearing she led was, with lawmakers appearing receptive to the argument that US oil exports would be a boon to the country's national security interests. Whether that is enough to win over reluctant politicians wary of taking blame for rising gasoline prices or killing off refinery jobs remains to be seen.
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