Biden drains the SPR and Americans' wallets

By U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer
R-Missouri

Washington, D.C. – Imagine emptying your gas tank or kitchen cabinet to help fuel your toughest adversary, leaving you and your family without enough resources to get to work, school, or even feed your family. 

Unfortunately, you don't have to imagine it because this is the reality the Biden administration created when they drained our strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) to record lows while selling to China.

Biden’s unprecedented war on American energy launched on his first day in office. By following through on one of his most reckless campaign promises, his actions have continued crippling the American economy and have kept energy prices unnecessarily high. 

Hard-working Americans are forced to make impossible decisions over basic needs. Unlike the government officials who “work” from home, most people must drive to work, so they have no choice but to sacrifice other needs to buy gas.

The White House has made a concerted – and extremely costly – effort to increase the use of electric vehicles and solar power. The government has spent literally trillions of dollars on this effort. 

It won’t come as a shock that the solar panels and renewable technologies that money is purchasing are made in China. So, the Administration’s energy policy basically boils down to emptying our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was established as a matter of national security, to sell cheaper oil to China then turn around and spend trillions of taxpayer dollars buying Chinese solar panels.

As the oresident’s perceived grasp on the economy proves nonexistent, the House is pursuing solutions for protecting our national security and fueling our local economy. I helped pass The Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act to keep the Secretary of Energy from raiding our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It also prohibits the sale of our oil to the CCP and halts the export petroleum products to China.  

While this surely isn’t a fix-all to a multilayered energy issue the President neglects to address, it will target the Administrations politicization and misuse of SPR, originally intended for emergencies.  

The White House’s actions, or lack thereof, have sacrificed our own citizens’ well-being to stimulate China’s economy, and consequently threatened our national security. It has to stop. In the event of a true supply chain emergency or national security event, the American People will be left with no failsafe and will be forced to cut back further on necessities. From there, a downward spiral would continue, and the real danger begins.

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