U.S. energy head Jennifer Granholm states that the limitation of presidential authorities to utilize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) will threaten national security and will provoke the price growth and deficit of oil.
Joe Biden tapped SPR several times in 2022 to manage the growth of gasoline prices and irregular oil supplies. Since at least 1983, sales have reduced the reserve to almost 380 million barrels.
Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers introduced the law that will limit the presidential authorities to utilize SPR oil, except in cases of serious energy supply interruption.
Granholm thinks that this step will seriously weaken the key instrument of energy security. It will provoke the growth of gasoline prices and the deficit of oil during the crises.
Before 2022 SPR was taped only in cases of serious problems with supplies, as it was after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Republicans suppose that the president used SPR to get popular support before the midterm elections.