For months, President Biden has been ransacking the nation’s strategic oil reserves to bring gas prices down. Amazingly, the White House appears to have just admitted that Biden’s misuse of these critical resources is politically driven.
At a press briefing, Biden’s spokesperson confirmed that the administration will cease depleting the reserves after the midterm elections.
WH confirms gambit is political
Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that the administration will continue to “release oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve through November,” but she indicated there were no plans to continue tapping the reserve beyond that point.
“We’re not considering to be doing anything more with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” she said.
President Biden announced in March he would make “unprecedented” use of the reserves after introducing sanctions on Russian oil in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The reserves are now at their lowest levels since the 1980s, with Biden having released 160 million barrels of oil.
Playing politics
The administration is still planning to sell another 10 million barrels in November. Republicans have hammered Biden’s approach, calling it a band-aid for his own reckless energy policy and a selfish use of strategic national resources for partisan purposes.
Although gas prices have come down from their summer peaks, they have begun rising again and are expected to spike further after OPEC+ announced massive production cuts.
When pressed, Jean-Pierre refused to elaborate on Biden’s long-term plans to replenish the reserves or keep oil prices down.
“And thanks to this President’s efforts, we — and his historic actions that he has taken, energy prices have declined sharply from their highs and American consumers are paying far less at the pump than they were several months ago. And again, it’s because of the historic steps that this President has taken.”
WH wants all the credit
She also hesitated to blame Biden for a recent uptick in gas prices, even as she credited his “historic” use of the strategic oil reserves with bringing prices down from record highs.
“So, it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Right, Peter? You know this. There have been global challenges that we have all have dealt with,” she said.
Meanwhile, Biden is said to be contemplating a ban on U.S. oil exports to keep prices in check before the midterms. Shameless.