Republicans target oil reserve releases with initial energy bills

House Republicans are honing in on releases from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the first set of bills that they’re expected to take up once they can start legislating. While their legislation is unlikely to make it through the Democrat-led Senate and past President Biden, including these bills among    the first of the new Congress signals that the nation’s oil reserves will be a key policy priority for the GOP. 

 On Friday, Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), a key Republican leader, released a list of “meaningful, ‘ready-to-go'” bills that will be the first that the party takes up, including two bills related to the strategic oil reserves.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the nation’s emergency crude oil supply. Last year, the Biden administration executed the largest-ever sell off of oil from the reserve, drawing Republican ire, in an effort to tamp down fuel prices that skyrocketed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the nation’s emergency crude oil supply. Last year, the Biden administration executed the largest-ever sell off of oil from the reserve, drawing Republican ire, in an effort to tamp down fuel prices that skyrocketed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

 Now, the GOP is pushing back. The party is slated to take up two bills aimed at future oil releases: one that would prevent new releases of SPR oil unless there is a plan in place for more energy development on the nation’s public lands and another that would seek to prevent oil from U.S. reserves from ending up in China...more