Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio.) does not believes that America should tap into the Stategic Petroleum Reserves to relieve high gas prices. Voinovich says that he is “worried” about America’s national security and for a slight reduction in the cost of oil does not think it’s worth the risk to open the reserve. (0:51)
The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming met to discuss opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to alleviate Americans’ struggle with high gas prices. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) told the committee that average Americans will pay $2,370 per year on gas at current rates and said the White House for opposing measures that would bring immediate relief at the pump. He said the Reserve is 97 percent full, the most it has ever been, with 706 million barrels of oil.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stated that she does not support releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. She said the Reserve is intended to respond to national emergencies when oil supplies are severed, nothing that a supply cut has not occurred. James May, president of the Air Transport Association, said the price of gas is an emergency for the families of 32,000 airline employees who have lost jobs due to tighter airline budgets. Markey said Democrats in Congress desire to help lower the cost of gas in ten to twenty days, contrasting this with Republican’s calls for more drilling, an avenue he said would take ten to twenty years. Blackburn said Democrats have failed to develop a rational energy policy.
Kyle Simpson, policy director of Brownstein, said an announcement from the White House that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was being opened would instantly lower prices, citing past actions taken by President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, and President George W. Bush. Joe Romm of the Center for American Progress advocated releasing a portion of the Reserve to the market incrementally. He said if prices do not to drop upon release, the failed strategy would demonstrate how “useless” is the Reserve is. According to Romm, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s development stemmed from oil shortages caused by international conflict, saying that the modern globalized economy makes the risk of sudden oil shortages unlikely. Speaking passionately into his microphone, Romm stated that the current threat to the oil market is high prices, questioning the Reserve’s purpose if current prices do not qualify for the release of oil.
At a press conference following the vote on the Democratic proposal to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says that “we are saying to the Saudis that ‘if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?’” He says that the relationship should be a “two-way street,” and that although Saudi Arabia needs U.S. military arms, the U.S. needs Saudi Arabia to “cooperate, and not strangle American consumers.” (0:25)
At a press conference following the vote on the Democratic proposal to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says that Saudi Arabia is currently producing two million barrels of oil per day below its capacity. If it increased production by one million barrels, he said, prices would likely lower by 50 cents within a month or two. (0:36)
Five senators held a press conference today immediately following a vote on a Democratic proposal to “suspend filling the nearly full Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to increase supply and lower energy prices,” the official release said. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that Saudi Arabia currently produces nearly two million barrels of oil per day below capacity, and said that prices would likely lower by 50 cents per gallon in the next month or two if they increased production by just one million barrels per day. Schumer said that himself and the other senators wanted to present President Bush with a “motion of disapproval” of the Saudi arms deal, and urge him to put pressure on the Saudis to increase productivity and lower prices as he leaves for his trip to the Middle East today. “We are saying to the Saudis that ‘if you don’t help us, why should we be helping you?’” Schumer said. “You need our arms, but we need you to cooperate and not strangle American consumers.”
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Consumers are being tipped upside down by the big oil companies, with money being shaken out of their pockets at the pump. This statement made by Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA), was widely echoed by all members of Congress present at the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. President Bush, he said, refuses to use our oil reserves, and not only is that something that can be done, it is something that should be done. Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) echoed that by adding that they need to put aside bipartisanship and releasing the reserves was essentially paying attention to Economics 101.
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