Washington (KINY) – On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.) introduced the Strategically Lowering Gas Prices Act.
They were joined by Senators Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was created in 1975 to offer a safety net for the U.S. to draw upon in times of emergency and significant shortage.
On Nov. 23, 2021, the Biden administration first announced plans to release 50 million barrels of oil from the SPR to reduce upward pressure on gas prices. By Sep. 2023, the SPR was at its lowest level since June 1983. The SPR has declined by nearly 287 million barrels of crude oil since President Biden took office.
The bill would prohibit the Biden administration from releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until any executive orders blocking energy development on federal land that would otherwise be available for leasing are revoked.
“President Biden depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a level we haven’t seen in 35 years, a desperate political maneuver to mask the devastating inflation his policies have unleashed on hard-working families,” Sen. Sullivan said. “We urgently need to refill the SPR for the sake of our national security, but we should do it with American oil, produced by American energy workers with the highest environmental standards on the planet—not oil from dictators in Venezuela and Iran. Senator Budd and I are challenging the President—if he truly cares about American workers, national security, and the global environment, then he will support our commonsense legislation.”
“President Biden’s unreasonable, overbearing energy regulations have only made life more difficult for Americans struggling to afford gas and groceries,” said Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker. “Depleting emergency oil reserves to artificially lower gas prices—instead of fostering domestic energy production—is Biden’s political ploy to put a bandaid on an open wound. Sen. Budd’s bill ends Biden’s hypocrisy and protects American reserves for true emergencies, not an avoidable crisis caused by climate alarmism.”
The legislative text of the bill is HERE.
