Joe Biden Will Keep Exploiting Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve Until Congress Stops Him

President Joe Biden tapped the nation’s emergency petroleum reserve once again last week after the Saudis refused to ramp up oil production as the economy copes with energy shortages.

“I have been doing everything in my power to reduce gas prices since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine caused these prices to spike and rattled international oil markets,” Biden said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in eastern Europe.

The president unleashed an additional 15 million barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve after 180 million barrels were sold off at a pace of 1 million per day from April through mid-October. According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. uses about 20 million barrels of oil per day.

Biden’s claim to be doing “everything” in his power to reduce gas prices runs contrary to the White House’s energy policy since day one of his administration. The president immediately closed off public lands from new oil and gas leases for 18 months upon his inauguration, freezing investment in the capital- and labor-intensive industry while a cascade of taxes and regulations from the Department of the Interior suppressed production even further. Biden also blocked plans for a major oil refinery in the Virgin Islands, keeping U.S. refining capacity on a downward trajectory after decades of decline.

Biden has repeatedly turned to the oil reserve throughout his first two years in office whenever gas prices approach new records, antagonizing voters who are already stressed by four-decade-high inflation. Last November, the president tapped the reserve for 50 million barrels of oil ahead of Thanksgiving. Months later, Biden looked to the reserve again for 30 million barrels at the onset of Russia’s war with Ukraine. The White House followed up that release with the unprecedented 180 million barrels drawn out to coincide with the midterms season. The president’s decision now to tap another 15 million barrels just before Election Day signals he’s doing everything in his power to avoid unleashing domestic power production, contrary to his claims at the White House last week.

By the end of the year, Biden will have purged 275 million barrels of oil from the reserve, which has an authorized capacity of 714 million. According to the Department of Energy, the reserve now holds less than 400 million barrels of petroleum, marking its lowest level since 1984. The emergency petroleum reserve, established in the 1970s to prepare the U.S. for a sudden and severe disruption in supply such as a hurricane hampering gulf coast refineries, has been transformed into the president’s personal oil bank to cash in on for political capital.

As to how effective the president’s releases have been at suppressing gas prices, consumers faced record pain at the pump this summer when the nationwide average gallon of regular unleaded gasoline eclipsed $5. In other words, gas prices continued to reach new peaks despite millions of barrels of oil flowing onto the market.

“All it’s really doing is distorting the market and covering up

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