Republicans in the House of Representatives want to limit the president’s use of the nation’s oil reserve for emergencies

For the second time this month, Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to limit the president’s use of the nation’s emergency oil reserves, a proposal that has already threatened a White House veto.

A GOP bill put to a vote on Friday would require the government to offset any non-emergency withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with new drilling on public lands and oceans. Republicans accuse President Joe Biden of abusing the reserve for political reasons to keep gas prices low, while Biden says the use of the reserve was necessary last year in response to a ban on Russian oil imports following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden removed 180 million barrels from the strategic reserve in a matter of months, bringing stocks to their lowest level since the 1980s. Last month, the administration said it would begin replenishing the reserve after oil prices fell.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the latest GOP proposal, which follows a bill approved two weeks ago to prevent the Energy Department from selling oil from the strategic reserve to companies owned or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Republicans in the House of Representatives will vote to raise gas prices for American families…and help Putin’s military goals by preventing us from getting oil,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to the current GOP bill. families to enormous financial suffering and increasing our deficits, all just to benefit the richest taxpayers and big corporations.”

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Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, speaking with Jean-Pierre at the White House, said the bill would “make it harder for Americans to get help in the future” from disruptions in oil supplies that could drive up prices.

Republican Rep. Kathy McMorris Rogers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and sponsored the GOP bill, accused Granholm and the White House of numerous misleading claims, including the erroneous assertion that the bill could affect the use of the reserve during state of emergency declared by the president. .

“At a time when gas prices are rising, Secretary of State Granholm and the Biden administration should be frank with the American people about their efforts to cover up how they abused the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an election year ploy,” McMorris Rogers said.

Rocker pump, March 30, 2022, Tatum, New Mexico. Members of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives are seeking to limit the president’s use of the nation’s oil reserves for emergencies.
(AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, file)

“Republicans want lasting, lasting relief at the gas station. The best way to do this is to unleash the American energy,” added McMorris Rogers of Washington State.

The heated rhetoric is part of a wider fight over oil drilling and climate change. Republicans say Biden administration oil leasing restrictions are hampering U.S. energy production and hurting the economy, while Democrats are touting last year’s sweeping climate bill as a major step towards weaning the country off fossil fuels. fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. The measure authorizes billions in spending on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and includes incentives for Americans to buy millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and more efficient appliances.

Biden, citing the danger of climate change, canceled the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline and suspended new oil and gas leases on federal lands in his early days in office. The moratorium has since been lifted by court order, but Republicans complain that rental sales of new drilling rights are still limited.

Biden has vowed to stop new drilling on public land, and climate change activists have pushed him to move faster to close the oil lease. Fossil fuels produced on public lands account for about 20% of US energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, making them a prime target for emission reductions aimed at slowing global warming.

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“Whether onshore or offshore, oil drilling poses an unacceptable risk to our wildlife, wilderness and waterways,” said Lisa Frank of America’s Environmental Advocacy Group. At a time when we must abandon this destructive and dangerous practice and increase the use of renewable energy, this bill is doubling down on the obsolete energy of the past.”

Frank urged lawmakers to reject the GOP bill and instead move to permanently ban new drilling off the coast of the United States and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The bill is supported by conservative and industry groups.

“We can continue to make the Strategic Petroleum Reserve the nation’s only response to future disruptions, or we can also use more of the vast underground and offshore oil reserves currently banned by the President,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute and other conservative groups say. in a letter to Congress.

The Treasury Department estimates that the release of oil from the emergency stock has reduced gas station prices to 40 cents a gallon. Gasoline prices averaged about $3.50 a gallon on Thursday, compared to just over $5 a gallon at their peak in June, according to the AAA Automobile Club.

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Morris Rogers accused Biden of using the reserve to “cover up his failed policies,” which she says drive up energy prices and inflation. She and other Republicans noted that average gas prices were up more than 30 cents from a month earlier and higher than when Biden took office in January 2021.

“Millions of Americans are paying more as a result of the Biden administration’s sweeping ‘rush to green’ program that has brought American energy to a halt,” McMorris Rogers said.

Granholm, citing thousands of unused leases by oil companies, said the GOP’s claims of obstructionism over drilling are unfounded. “Nothing interferes with domestic oil and gas production,” she said, but McMorris Rogers disputed that claim.

“There are many barriers to the development of domestic oil and gas production, including onerous regulations and this administration’s inhibition of financial investment in the domestic oil and gas industry,” she said, noting that U.S. oil production is well below the 2019 peak of 13 million dollars. barrels of oil per day.