Strategic Production Response Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Chair, I rise today to address an issue which every American cares about: gas prices.

When gas prices were high last summer, the administration took action by releasing millions of barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower the cost for consumers.

The Treasury Department has estimated that the administration's use of the SPR cut prices for American consumers by as much as 40 cents per gallon, saving the average driver hundreds of dollars per year.

This use of the SPR not only helps insulate Americans from foreign adversaries' price manipulations; it puts money back in the pockets of working families and is a top concern among young people.

By introducing H.R. 21, a bill inhibiting the administration's flexibility to use the SPR, Republicans are showing once again that they care more about their friends in the oil industry than hardworking Americans.

My amendment will address this issue by allowing the Department of Energy to release oil from the SPR if the Department thinks that a delay in doing so would lead to an increase in gas prices.

This commonsense amendment gives the Department the flexibility it needs to help lower the price at the pump. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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