On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) said that Congress needs to ensure that money the government has gotten from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is used to re-stock the reserve instead of going for something else, and pointed out that he wanted to purchase oil for the SPR back in 2020 when oil prices were low, a move that Democratic leaders opposed.
Burgess stated, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists for a national emergency, not for a political emergency, but that’s what it was expended for. And now, you even have to ask the question, what has happened with the dollars that they received from selling off the oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Is the Department of Energy going to hold on to those to buy new oil or are they going to go off in some other direction? This is a terrible situation. And actually, Congress has a role here with the oversight of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Two years ago, Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) and I tried to get the SPR filled up when oil was at an all-time, historic [low] and the Democrats in charge would not allow us to do that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett