In April 2022, the White House celebrated the Biden administration’s sale of the first 30 million of an eventual 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve , which seemed an unprecedented election year move at the time. In May, the Energy Department similarly celebrated a planned liquidation of 1 million barrels from the NGSR, a Perth Amboy-to-Boston contingent of the SPR, aimed at lowering summertime gas prices.
In the 2022 case, a White House announcement blamed in part Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine for supply disruptions that elevated oil prices, after Siberia was no longer permitted as a U.S. source of fuel.
Figures uncovered by Fox News showed that in the years since the SPR got up to speed during the Carter years – it had been established following the 1973 oil crisis as an energy security measure – it was depleted the most under Biden’s tenure. Following the 1980 election, the SPR notched 112.5 million barrels in January 1981, and by the end of President Ronald Reagan’s term, it had grown to nearly 450 million barrels in January 1989.
Congress itself is also permitted to occasionally mandate sales of oil reserves to fund legislative priorities. But, this time, congressional Republicans have called out Biden, alleging he is playing politics with America’s energy security in an election year. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso and Washington Rep.
When Trump attempted to do the opposite and fill the SPR while oil prices were at a rock-bottom $24 per barrel, he was conversely stopped by Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrated the block at the time, claiming removing the provision from a bill 'eliminated a $3 billion bailout for Big Oil.' However, the White House did announce opposition to McMorris-Rodgers' bill, claiming it would 'significantly weaken a critical energy security tool.