Oklahoma’s U.S. Senators and Representatives who heavily criticized President Biden for his use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down gasoline prices might be preparing new critical statements after a New York Post story this week.
The Post’s Miranda Devine, the same reporter who broke the Hunter Biden laptop story that became a congressional investigation, reported that Biden might be considering selling more oil from the reserve.
“So White House flack John Kirby casually let slip in India over the weekend that another drain from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve likely is on the table, after the president already drained stocks to a 40-year low to dampen inflation and resuscitate his poll numbers,” wrote Devon.
“Biden is “focused on making sure that the prices continue to come down for the American consumer,” Kirby told reporters at the G20 summit in New Delhi, where Biden shook hands warmly Saturday with the Saudi crown prince he foolishly vilified as a “pariah,” but who holds the key to lower oil prices globally.”
“That’s why he has taken steps to shore up global supply, even if that means coming into the strategic reserve,” Kirby said.
In January, Sen. James Lankford was joined by a handful of others in Congress in the introduction of the Strategic Production Response (SPR) Act to prioritize American energy production. The SPR Act would prohibit the Secretary of the Department of Energy from tapping the SPR for anything other than a severe US energy supply interruption until the Secretary of the Department of Interior issues a plan to increase American oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.
“It’s ridiculous that Biden would try to ‘cancel’ traditional energy production here at home and then propose using our emergency reserves of oil,”said Lankford. in a statement at the time.
“We should not pull oil out of the public Strategic Petroleum Reserve without also increasing energy production on public lands. We should ensure the federal government can’t just beg OPEC and others for foreign oil while holding back domestic energy production. This is a yet another example of Biden putting his climate-change agenda over American jobs and energy independence. I will continue to stand against it.”
Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Tom Cole voiced his criticism in February.
“President Biden must stop playing games with our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, created solely for natural disasters or national emergencies. The Biden administration’s decision to drain this has left our nation in a vulnerable position and in the hands of other countries that do not have our best interests in mind.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, in a Youtube post, stated, “I urge Joe Biden to remember why the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in the first place – America was reliant on oil from our adversaries in OPEC, and it was weaponized against us. Instead of doubling down on his anti-American energy agenda, President Biden should be working to make sure this never happens again.”
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