WASHINGTON — To help curtail the rising price of gas President Biden has released another 10 million barrels of oil from the strategic oil reserve.
It’s a decision that is getting a partisan reaction, mostly negative from Republican lawmakers like Rep. Larry Bucshon, a Republican from Indiana. In a scathing statement released via email on Thursday, Bucshon places the blame for the situation on gas prices squarely on the shoulders of the president.
“Under the Trump administration we were basically energy independent, without dependence on any foreign sources of energy,” Bucshon said on WIBC’s Tony Katz Today. “What this administration has done is they’ve done everything they can to stymie energy production which has killed jobs.”
With OPEC choosing to cut oil production by two million barrels a date going forward, the price of gasoline will undoubtedly increase to reflect that cut in production. Bucshon says a cut in oil production should not have this significant of an impact on the world market.’
The White House has not considered allowing any new refineries to be built and Republicans have accused the president of not following through on allowing more licenses for new drilling and off-shore drilling of new oil wells.
“This is just stupid policy, that’s putting America’s national security at risk,” Bucshon added. “But, if the United States can control the stability of the price in the world market, that benefits not only us but our allies in Europe and in Asia.”
Geopolitical theories are also propping up the OPEC decision. The White House said they believe OPEC is aligning with Russia in cutting production. This deal is said to be pushing more oil money toward Russia.
Furthermore, the White House is considering scaling back economic sanctions against Venezuela in order to allow the US to buy more oil from South America. If a deal is reached, it will likely include some political concessions from Venezuela.
“Latin America is an important strategic region for our country,” said Rep Victoria Spartz (R-IN-5th) on Twitter. “But any ease of Venezuela sanctions should be conditioned on democratic elections in 2024 – not just talks of elections. Otherwise, we’ll just give more cash to the Maduro authoritarian regime.”
