On December 18, President Obama signed into law HR 2029, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, the so-called Omnibus Appropriations bill. This $1.15 trillion measure funded the Federal Government through FY 2016. Included in this seemingly unrelated Omnibus package were provisions that ended the 40-year prohibition on the export of crude oil produced in the United States. When I wrote about this topic for this publication a year ago, it was clear that it would be one of the pressing issues of the 2015 Congressional session. At the time, the outcome was uncertain, but what was certain was that timing before the 2016 election year would be a key driver for proponents.
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