Republicans Push $1.3 Billion Bill To Refill The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• The proposed bill allocates $1.321 billion to refill the SPR and $218 million for maintenance and repairs.

• It aims to repeal the SPR drawdown mandate and redirect funds away from climate initiatives.

• The legislation responds to Trump’s promise to refill the reserve and criticizes Biden’s SPR releases.

U.S. House Republicans have introduced the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which will include funding to begin refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)—a key promise of President Donald Trump.

The bill proposes $1.321 billion to acquire, by purchase, petroleum products for storage in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and another $218 million for maintenance of, including repairs to, storage facilities and related facilities.

The bill also repeals the SPR drawdown and sale mandate.

“The bill would also begin refilling the dangerously low Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Republican Congressman Guthrie also noted that “This bill would claw back money headed for green boondoggles through “environmental and climate justice block grants” and other spending mechanisms through the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department.”

The legislation would “reverse the most reckless parts of the engorged climate spending in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, returning $6.5 billion in unspent funds,” Guthrie added.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump said the U.S. Administration would quickly fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“They put it all out because they thought they could keep gasoline prices down a little bit, just go past the election, and after that, they didn’t care,” the President added, criticizing Joe Biden’s administration for failing to curb the hikes in gasoline prices.

The SPR needs to be refilled as the strategic reserve plays a critical role in stabilizing the U.S. market during global supply disruptions.

The Biden administration released more than 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR starting in 2021, amid high gasoline prices.

The Department of the Treasury claims that these releases, along with coordinated international efforts, helped reduce gasoline prices by up to 40 cents per gallon in 2022.