Prohibit Venezuelan Oil Importation Act
Bill: H.R.7207 | Sponsor: Rep. Donalds, Byron (R-FL)
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
Prohibit Venezuelan Oil Importation Act
This bill requires the President to prohibit the importation of petroleum products from Venezuela. Petroleum product means crude oil, residual fuel oil, or any refined petroleum product, including natural gas liquid product.
The President may modify or remove the prohibition for some or all petroleum products only if specified conditions are met. Among these conditions, the President must (1) reimplement and maintain sanctions imposed against Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A.; (2) renew the authorization of the Keystone XL pipeline to import oil from Canada; and (3) resume oil and gas leasing on federal land.
Additionally, the bill authorizes the President to use appropriate authorities to impose civil or criminal penalties as necessary to enforce the prohibition.

To prohibit the importation of petroleum products from Venezuela, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prohibit Venezuelan Oil Importation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) From 1959 to 1999, Venezuela, officially known as the 
        Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, had a form of government that 
        embraced democratic principles.
            (2) In 1999, Hugo Chavez was elected as the President of 
        Venezuela, where he maintained power by redistributing the 
        country's vast oil reserves towards social welfare programs, 
        suppressing dissent and independent media, and corrupting 
        Venezuela's democratic institutions, while simultaneously 
        nationalizing the country's private businesses, which he did so 
        until his death on March 5, 2013.
            (3) On April 24, 2013, Nicolas Maduro became President of 
        Venezuela, notwithstanding multiple claims of election fraud 
        and constitutional violations against Maduro.
            (4) During this time, Venezuela's economy had become 
        strongly dependent on the exportation of oil, with crude 
        accounting for 86 percent of its exports.
            (5) However, in 2014, Venezuela entered into an economic 
        recession, which led to the Venezuelan regime's partnership 
        with Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), a state oil company, 
        to combat the highly fluctuating price of oil in Venezuela 
        along with the country's overall steep decrease in oil 
        production.
            (6) In 2015, Venezuela's economic struggles continued, with 
        Venezuela having the world's highest rate of inflation that 
        surpassed 100 percent, resulting from the Maduro regime's 
        socialist economic policy that ultimately redistributed the 
        oil-generated wealth to Venezuela's oligarchs.
            (7) In January 2016, Maduro declared an ``economic 
        emergency'' due to the country's inability to provide for basic 
        human needs to its citizens, leading to riots in the streets of 
        Venezuela.
            (8) In 2017, Maduro announced that leading opposition 
        parties would be barred from taking part in the country's 
        Presidential election, which led the United States and other 
        countries formally recognizing Juan Guaido as the President of 
        Venezuela, although countries such as China, Russia, Cuba, and 
        Iran still continued to recognize President Nicolas Maduro.
            (9) In August 2019, President Donald Trump signed an 
        Executive order to impose tough sanctions against Maduro's 
        totalitarian regime.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress--
            (1) recognizes that Venezuela has been impacted by 
        hyperinflation, rampant crime, and significant government 
        corruption;
            (2) condemns the totalitarian Maduro regime and calls for 
        the return of constitutional democratic government to Venezuela 
        similar to the form of government that existed in the country 
        from 1959 to 1999; and
            (3) calls on President Joseph Biden to use relevant 
        constitutional and statutory authorities that grant emergency 
        powers to waive unnecessary environmental permitting 
        requirements until the United States can reliably produce 
        enough oil and natural gas to recapture America's global energy 
        dominance.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It shall be the policy of the United States--
            (1) to support the desire of the people of Venezuela for 
        freedom and democracy;
            (2) to promote its national security interests by 
        prohibiting the importation of petroleum products from 
        Venezuela in the midst of the ongoing Russian attack on 
        Ukraine;
            (3) to stress the importance of American energy 
        independence, particularly from countries such as Russia and 
        Venezuela; and
            (4) to implement America-first energy policies that 
        contradict President Biden's overall energy policy approach.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS FROM 
              VENEZUELA.

    (a) In General.--The President shall prohibit the importation of 
all petroleum products (as such term is defined in section 3 of the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6202)) originating from 
Venezuela into the customs territory of the United States (as such term 
is defined in General Note 2 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule).
    (b) Modification or Removal of Prohibition.--The President may 
modify or remove the prohibition under subsection (a) with respect to 
some or all petroleum products described in such subsection only if the 
President--
            (1) reimplements and maintains the sanctions imposed 
        against Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA);
            (2) directs the Executive Office of the President to 
        conduct and submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
        and leadership a study that--
                    (A) outlines the impacts and implications of 
                Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 
                7037; relating to protecting public health and the 
                environment and restoring science to tackle the climate 
                crisis), specifically pertaining to the decision to 
                revoke--
                            (i) Executive Order 13766 of January 24, 
                        2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 8657; relating to expediting 
                        environmental review and approvals for high 
                        priority infrastructure projects);
                            (ii) Executive Order 13778 of February 28, 
                        2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 12497; relating to restoring 
                        the rule of law, federalism, and economic 
                        growth by reviewing the ``Waters of the United 
                        States'' rule);
                            (iii) Executive Order 13783 of March 28, 
                        2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 16093; relating to promoting 
                        energy independence and economic growth);
                            (iv) Executive Order 13792 of April 26, 
                        2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 20429; relating to review of 
                        designations under the Antiquities Act);
                            (v) Executive Order 13795 of April 28, 2017 
                        (82 Fed. Reg. 20815; relating to implementing 
                        an America-first offshore energy strategy);
                            (vi) Executive Order 13868 of April 10, 
                        2019 (84 Fed. Reg. 15495; relating to promoting 
                        energy infrastructure and economic growth); and
                            (vii) Executive Order 13807 of August 15, 
                        2017 (82 Fed. Reg. 40463; relating to 
                        establishing discipline and accountability in 
                        the environmental review and permitting process 
                        for infrastructure projects);
                    (B) provides the necessary and appropriate 
                recommendations for the President to reimplement an 
                America-first offshore energy strategy, as in effect on 
                January 19, 2020;
                    (C) reports on the effects of President Biden's--
                            (i) decision to institute a moratorium on 
                        offshore and onshore oil and gas leasing on 
                        Federal land, including the directive to the 
                        Department of the Interior to pause all oil and 
                        gas lease sales on Federal lands;
                            (ii) actions that threaten to raise royalty 
                        rates for any onshore and offshore projects 
                        relating to the oil and gas industry;
                            (iii) statements that create significant 
                        regulatory uncertainty, including the 
                        President's threats of implementing new 
                        excessive and burdensome regulations on the oil 
                        and gas industry;
                            (iv) decision to stop the lease sales in 
                        the Coastal Plain (as defined in section 
                        20001(a)(1) of the Public Law 115-97 (16 U.S.C. 
                        668dd note(a)(1))) of the Arctic National 
                        Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum 
                        Reserve-Alaska;
                            (v) directive to the Department of Energy 
                        to delay the review of certain liquified 
                        natural gas export licenses;
                            (vi) allocation of authority to the Federal 
                        Energy Regulatory Commission to change its 
                        certificate policy statement governing 
                        interstate natural gas pipeline reviews;
                            (vii) decision to shut down critical mining 
                        projects, such as Twin Metals copper-nickel 
                        mine in Minnesota;
                            (viii) guidance to the Department of the 
                        Treasury that prevents the Department of 
                        Energy, the United States Agency for 
                        International Development, and the Department 
                        of State from investing in loans or grants for 
                        fossil fuel projects abroad;
                            (ix) refusal to permit mining projects, 
                        such as Resolution Copper in Arizona;
                            (x) decision to reinstitute National 
                        Monuments, including Bears Ears National 
                        Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National 
                        Monument, to prevent the development of fossil 
                        fuel projects; and
                            (xi) response to the Bureau of Land 
                        Management's ongoing backlog of pending 
                        applications for permits to drill on Federal 
                        land;
                    (D) includes supplemental background information 
                pertaining to the President's decision to implement a 
                temporary moratorium on all Federal activities relating 
                to the implementation of the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas 
                Leasing Program (as established by the Record of 
                Decision signed August 17, 2020) in the Arctic National 
                Wildlife Refuge; and
                    (E) describes the potential impacts of pausing all 
                new discretionary regulatory policy that would 
                negatively impact the oil and gas sector, including--
                            (i) the proposed rule titled ``Standards of 
                        Performance for New, Reconstructed, and 
                        Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for 
                        Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector 
                        Climate Review'' and published on November 15, 
                        2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 63110);
                            (ii) the Environmental Protection Agency's 
                        decision to reconsider the previous 
                        Administration's decision to retain, without 
                        revision, the National Ambient Air Quality 
                        Standards for particulate matter and ozone;
                            (iii) the development by the Environmental 
                        Protection Agency of a new definition of the 
                        term ``waters of the United States'' for any 
                        purpose that affects the oil and gas sector; 
                        and
                            (iv) the modification by the Corps of 
                        Engineers of nationwide permit (NWP) 
                        regulations under section 404 of the Federal 
                        Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) 
                        and section 10 of the Act of March 3, 1899 (33 
                        U.S.C. 403);
            (3) renews the authorization of the Keystone XL pipeline 
        for the purpose of importing oil from Canada to the United 
        States, as described in the Presidential permit of March 29, 
        2019 (84 Fed. Reg. 13101);
            (4) resumes oil and gas leasing on Federal land; and
            (5) notifies the appropriate congressional committees and 
        leadership that, in the determination of the President, such 
        modification or removal is appropriate given the situation in 
        Ukraine, and includes with such notification--
                    (A) an explanation of the rationale for such 
                modification or removal; and
                    (B) if the modification does not result in the full 
                removal of the prohibition, a description of the 
                criteria to be met by Venezuela for further 
                modification or removal of remaining elements of the 
                prohibition.
    (c) Penalties.--The President is authorized to use appropriate 
authorities to impose such civil or criminal penalties as may be 
necessary to enforce the prohibition under subsection (a).
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees and Leadership Defined.--
For purposes of this section, the term ``appropriate congressional 
committees and leadership'' means--
            (1) the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 
        President pro tempore of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 
        Appropriations, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the 
        Committee on Armed Services, and the Permanent Select Committee 
        on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; and
            (3) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
        Appropriations, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
        the Committee on Armed Services, and the Select Committee on 
        Intelligence of the Senate.
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