President Joe Biden’s decision to release up to 15 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an abuse aimed at using the world’s largest such resource to protect vulnerable Democrats from voter wrath over high gas prices.
That’s the view of a host of congressional Republicans reacting to the president’s move to release the crude oil from what was originally intended by Congress to be used only in a national emergency—such as a war in which America lost access to foreign energy sources.
Biden’s 15 million barrels this week represents the last part of the 180 million barrel total release he authorized in March. He also authorized a 50 million barrel release in 2021 as the price at the pump for gasoline and diesel began skyrocketing from the $2.17 average per gallon in 2020 during the final year of President Donald Trump’s administration.
While a few Democrats on Capitol Hill are praising Biden, for the most part, members of the president’s political party are keeping quiet on the decision that comes as the latest polls show a decisive edge for Republicans with the midterm elections less than three weeks away.
“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was built for a national energy crisis—not for a Democrat election crisis,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the Wyoming Republican who is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
“It is unconscionable for America, with our abundant natural resources that can be produced cleaner than anywhere else in the world, to continue relying or consider increasing reliance on authoritarian regimes to do for us what we can do for ourselves.
On the House side, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the ranking GOP member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, faulted Biden’s decision as a result of what she termed the president’s “rush to green” environmental policies.
“This has led to surging inflation and made everyday life more expensive for people across the board—from the gas pump to the grocery store.
“President Biden’s radical agenda is unaffordable and surrenders our energy security to countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela,” she said. “Instead of using the SPR for political bailout and empowering America’s adversaries, President Biden should end his war on American energy and join Republican efforts to reclaim our energy dominance.”
“Thanks to President Biden, gas prices began to fall over the summer, but now we are once again witnessing how easily the global oil market is manipulated—this time by OPEC+,” Pallone said, referring to the international petroleum cartel’s recent decision to cut production by 2 million barrels per day.
“Nothing is compelling OPEC+ to cut production—they are doing so in an effort to weaponize oil prices in service of Russia and its illegal war on Ukraine. By deliberately squeezing the global oil market dry of supply, they are raising our gas prices for their profit,” he said.
Pallone also praised Biden for announcing plans to begin refilling the SPR when oil prices reach $70 per barrel. The New Jersey Democrat has introduced legislation to authorize such actions by the president.
Biden isn’t the first president to authorize SPR releases.
“The United States also released about 21 million barrels after Hurricane Katrina and about 17 million after the Gulf War.”
