Strategic Production Response Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would prohibit the bill from taking effect until the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with other Federal agencies, certifies that this bill will not result in an increase to the average price of energy for Americans.

The world's largest supply of emergency crude oil--the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--was established to reduce the devastating impact of supply shocks on prices. When supply shocks are allowed to occur uninhibited, prices rise, and the American people suffer.

Whether it is mile-long lines at your local gas station or home energy costs that force families into the cold or heat, supply shocks in energy markets hurt people. They might not hurt some of my colleagues' neighborhoods, but they certainly hurt mine.

My constituents would feel deeply the pain that would happen if the President was not permitted to utilize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to do its job.

All too often, affording to keep the lights on is an everyday struggle for my constituents and for many other Americans, as well. My district, the Virgin Islands, has among the highest residential and commercial electric rates in the country.

The SPR is one of the few mechanisms that the Federal Government has to prevent ever-growing price pressures from crushing people. Less than 1 year ago, in the face of global crude oil instability following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Biden acted with great positive effect to make measured drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, causing price reductions by as much as 40 cents per gallon at the pump. Today, average gasoline prices are down by more than $1.50 per gallon from their peak last summer. So the utilization of the SPR thus far to release oil into the market has been very effective for American taxpayers. The SPR is a force for good when it is allowed to operate unencumbered.

However, this bill would significantly weaken this critical energy security tool and hamstring the President's ability to utilize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a time of disruption, which will result in more oil supply shortages. It would do so by making it harder to withdraw oil into the market quickly to increase supply when the market needs it most--which will drive up gasoline prices.

The President must be able to rapidly provide oil from the SPR to address supply disruptions and respond to emergencies. Arbitrarily requiring the completion of reports related to energy production on Federal lands specifically--a matter which the Department of Energy does not control--would only delay response and increase prices when energy disruptions occur.

So my amendment is simple. It provides that SPR utilization may not be limited unless the Secretary of Energy certifies that this would not push up average energy prices in America.

Nothing is standing in the way of domestic oil production. Oil production is up by 1 million barrels per day under President Biden and is on track to reach a new record high this year. There are nearly 10,000 approved but unused permits to drill.

The basic rules of economics must continue to apply. The SPR should continue to serve as a flexible and responsible emergency supply recourse to put down pressure on energy prices. Under my amendment, this bill must not yield the opposite and raise energy prices.

Mr. Chairman, I urge all my colleagues to please approve my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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