House Dems Reject GOP Plan To Replenish Oil Reserves Biden Drained

House Democrats unanimously rejected a Republican bill aimed at 
replenishing the country's strategic oil reserves after President 
Joe Biden released the largest amount of oil from the stockpile in 
U.S. history.

220 House Democrats voted to block consideration of the Strategic 
Production Response Act on Tuesday afternoon, with one party member 
not voting. The bill, which Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., 
Wash.), Steve Scalise (R., La.), and Fred Upton (R., Mich.) unveiled 
in December, requires Biden's energy secretary to develop a plan to 
increase U.S. gas production on federal lands should the president 
release additional oil from the nation's reserves "for non-emergency 
reasons."

Democrats' refusal to bolster domestic energy production comes just 
weeks after Biden released 50 million barrels of oil from the 
country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, marking the largest release 
in U.S. history. While those reserves are typically used for 
emergency reasons—then-president George W. Bush loaned 30 million 
barrels from the stockpile in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—Biden 
tapped into the supply in an attempt to curtail rising gas prices 
amid intense political pressure. The average price of a gallon of 
gas has increased by more than a dollar over the course of Biden's 
presidency.

Power the Future founder Daniel Turner criticized House Democrats 
for the vote, which he said would further "squander American energy 
independence."

"It's sad that we need to pass a measure to get energy workers back 
on the job in America. What's even more pathetic is that there are 
those who vote against it," Turner told the Washington Free Beacon. 
"Anyone who would vote against responsible energy development within 
our country is also voting against getting back to energy 
independence."

Biden, who centered his presidential campaign on fighting climate 
change, issued an executive order on the first day of his presidency 
that canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project, killing thousands of 
oil and gas jobs in the process. Just days later, the Democrat 
suspended new oil and gas drilling on federal lands, and his 
administration is now fighting a GOP-led lawsuit challenging the 
moratorium. Those policies—as well as Biden's decision to tap into 
the nation's oil reserves for non-emergencies—threaten America's 
energy security, McMorris Rodgers argued in a statement.

"The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created by Congress to respond 
to oil supply disruptions that may arise after a natural disaster or 
war. The SPR is not supposed to be tapped as a bailout for the 
president's anti-fossil fuel agenda, which has led to the highest 
gas prices in seven years," McMorris Rodgers said. "The Biden 
administration must end its hostility to producing energy here at 
home, and reverse the policies that have led to the cancellation of 
critical pipelines and endless permitting delays."

The White House did not return a request for comment.


https://freebeacon.com/democrats/house-dems-reject-gop-plan-to-
replenish-oil-reserves-biden-drained/