The Biden Administration released oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease high gas prices —but then sold 950,000 million barrels of it to our chief international competitor, China. When I first read about it, I thought, “what in the world is going on?” Yet that’s exactly what happened, and now a group of House Republicans wants to know why.
The following is an extract from the Washington Free BeaconSeven GOP House members, Ronny Jackson (Texas), and Ralph Norman, South Carolina, have initiated a formal investigation into the administration. They wrote a letter Friday to Biden.
Your Administration has taken actions and policies that have deviated from the SPR [Strategic Petroleum Reserve]It has strayed from its original purpose to cover your war on domestic oil production.
It is clear that your administration wishes to use the the SPR as a stopgap for your polices—policies that that that have crippled American energy independence…
The fact that the United States exports SPR crude to China is concerning, as China is continuing to be allied with us.
Gerald Ford, then President of the United States, authorized the creation and maintenance of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975 when he signed The Energy Policy and Conservation Act. According to the Department of Energy, the SPR is now a “complex of four sites with deep underground storage caverns created in salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts.” Those deep storage caverns are just a little less full than they used to be, though. Biden has been tapping the SPR since 1985, when the reserve levels have dropped below 500,000,000 barrels. This is the lowest point since 1986.
Here’s Joe crowing about his achievement of prices supposedly dropping half a dollar:
I’ve been releasing about 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and rallied our global partners to release a combined 240 million barrels of oil onto the market.
Prices are falling because of our efforts. pic.twitter.com/5zrBPGvRJv
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 19, 2022
He should explain to me how oil sold to Communist China lowers gas prices in America. All seven House members would like to hear from him. Jackson spoke to the Free Beacon:
The American people can’t afford to put gas in their tanks and our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at its lowest level in decades, yet Joe Biden is wasting our money and resources by sending oil that’s intended for emergencies to the Chinese Communist Party. An American president cannot help but support his adversaries, and set America up for failure in the face of major national security threats or disasters is not how he should govern. Taxpayers deserve better.
They are asking for the White House to turn over a “trove” of documents regarding the decision-making process behind the China sales, while demanding to know if there have been any other sales of the SPR oil to other “foreign adversaries.”
The White House shot back Friday, with spokesman Ian Sams telling Fox News that Biden had “no personal involvement” in the sales. That could be said about many White House decision-making, I believe. Sams continued:
Some Republican legislators are suggesting that President Biden and the Biden Administration funnel oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve to foreign companies for criminal purposes. They are making a false and absurd accusation. If they were to look at the facts they’d see it.
But, take note of the way he translates his words. At first, it seems as if he’s saying that these sales never happened—but that’s not what he’s saying at all. He’s not denying that the sales happened, he’s just saying the Administration didn’t make them for “nefarious purposes.” Smooth. He then complained that the Administration’s hands were tied:
Sams explained that when oil is released from the SPR, the U.S. Department of Energy is “required by law to sell it ‘in a competitive auction to the highest bidder,’ regardless of whether that bidder is a foreign company.”
“This independent process has been consistent across administrations,” Sams said, adding that the Trump administration also sold crude oil from the SPR through this “competitive bidding process.”
This has three problems:
- If the law states that the Energy Department is required to sell it at auction to the highest bidder, then why release it all since it won’t help us?
- When Trump sold oil to China, gas was far cheaper than it is today, and…
- House Democrats recently voted against a proposal to prohibit the sale to our enemies of Strategic Reserve. As the head of the party, I’m sure Joe could have changed that outcome if he cared.
House Democrats Block Legislative Amendment To Prevent US Oil Sales To China https://t.co/IwEoFWuAuv
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 22, 2022
Also, doesn’t Biden sign an executive order for just about everything? I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that he could have demanded that the oil be used only in the U.S.
It’s absolutely insane that during a period of wild inflation and ridiculous gas prices we would be selling our precious reserves to China. Hopefully, these GOP congressmen can get to the bottom of the matter, and make sure this doesn’t happen again.
MORE FROM THE REDSTATE
About Post Author
