Republicans in the U.S. House have filed a bill to fund the refilling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which was drastically lowered in the Biden administration.
The bill is named the Budget Reconciliation Bill and includes the funding to start the refilling of the SPR which was one of the key promises made by President Donald Trump. Under the measure, it proposes $1.321 billion to acquire, by purchase, petroleum products for storage in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and another $218 million for maintenance of, including repairs to, storage facilities and related facilities reported OilPrice.com
Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said, “The bill would also begin refilling the dangerously low Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”
At the time the SPR was lowered by the Biden administration, the decision to sell the oil to decrease U.S. gasoline prices drew heavy criticism from Oklahoma’s delegation in the House and Senate. At one point in 2022, then Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who is now a Senator, called for a House investigation of Biden’s move. A year earlier, Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford co-sponsored a bill to prioritize American energy production and prohibit the Energy Secretary from tapping the SPR for reasons other than a severe energy supply interruption.
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