Last week, President Joe Biden announced the release of an additional 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The administration is hoping to lower prices at the pump and counteract OPEC+ opting to decrease production by 2 million barrels per day. According to AAA, the national average for a price of a gallon of gas is $3.775.
Recently on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) discussed the effects of Biden’s decision.
“Short term, it will be a benefit because it should have a positive effect on the cost of gasoline,” Brooks said. “Long term, it’s horrific because the Petroleum Reserve is there for national security reasons and we’re diminishing America’s national security. To the extent that we reduce our oil reserves that might be needed should a real catastrophe hit us.”
The congressman explained how the SPR doesn’t exist simply to lower market prices.
“And when I talk about a real catastrophe,” he continued, “I’m not talking about prices of gasoline, or diesel, or jet fuel. That’s bad, but it’s not a crisis. A crisis is where you don’t have gasoline, or diesel fuel, or jet fuel because the normal supply chains have been interrupted and what you have in reserve you’ve depleted.”
It is irresponsible for the president to use the SPR in such a manner for political purposes, according to Brooks.
“There’s a reason why this oil is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” he said “because it’s essential for the national security of United States of America. And for Biden to use this to try to enhance the prospect of Democrats winning in November by artificially, temporarily pushing down gasoline and other fuel prices, that’s wrong for our country long term. It’s going to hurt us.”
Brooks also said he thinks the president’s claim that he has doing everything in his power to lower energy prices is a false.
“The key is production,” he argued. “The Biden administration, along with virtually everybody else who’s a part of and supporters of the Green New Deal, they’ve done everything they can to suppress energy production. And that began the very first day of Joe Biden being in office when he signed an executive order unilaterally cancelling the Keystone pipeline, which would have dramatically increased our oil supplies in the United States of America and given us a better supply chain that can be protected.”
Brooks received a 100% score from the American Energy Alliance (AEA) scorecard released last week.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
