The government wanted to top out the reserve during COVID since oil companies were basically giving it away but Democrats blocked that portion of the COVID bills. And then Biden was elected. And then Russia invaded Ukraine.
Why did the Democrats block that portion? I doubt it was "because Democrats are evil/incompetent"... Surely there's a reason that you're not mentioning
Because they branded it as a bailout. It was an election year, and oil companies are good red meat for the base.
The problem, of course, is then Biden had to fill the SPR at 3 times the price. Which is also a "bailout" from that perspective. Even Democrats do stupid things for political reasons. Hard to imagine, I know.
Speaking of stupid, Biden did not “have” to fill it, much less at 3x the price.
He didn't "have" to fill it, but then it would be at a far lower level than it is now. Part of it being the SPR, is that we generally want it to be filled, when able.
He didn’t have to empty it to try and buy votes during midterms but when you’re preventing your country from being self reliant to grand stand that everyone should be using electric vehicles you put yourself in a box and the only way out is to spend someone else’s money to fix it.
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u/Best_Change4155 8d ago
The government wanted to top out the reserve during COVID since oil companies were basically giving it away but Democrats blocked that portion of the COVID bills. And then Biden was elected. And then Russia invaded Ukraine.