Biden’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve down sharply after Dems shut down Trump refill effort

US emergency oil stock dropped from over 638 million barrels to about 416 million, as Biden released reserves to ease gas prices

Tyler Olson / FOXBusiness

Former President Donald Trump tried to add 77 million barrels of oil to the nation's emergency cache in early 2020 — when prices were under $20 per barrel — but was blocked by congressional Democrats. 

Two years later, President Biden has drained more than a third of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help quell gas prices, raising concerns about U.S. readiness for a disaster or a war. That's leading some experts to say that preventing Trump's planned oil purchase, when oil was as low as $15 to $20, may have been a mistake. 

"It would have meant we would have almost 100 million barrels extra in the reserve at a price $50-$60 less a barrel that we could have sold," Mark Mills, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News Digital. Mills also works at the Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. 

"We would have made billions of dollars and not degraded our strategic position," Mills continued. "We would have been over-strategically...Read more and see video here.

It Turns Out 2024 Will Be Even More Difficult for Senate Democrats 

Rebecca Downs / Townhall Tipsheet

While control of the Senate following the November midterm elections has been something of a toss-up, polls are increasingly indicating that Republicans have a chance, and media reports are following with it. Republicans are also even more likely to win control of the House, and control of both chambers is becoming a very real possibility, just over a month away from the elections. 

If Democrats think they have a difficult time this cycle, though, 2024 will likely be even more challenging, according to a POLITICO report by Burgess Everett. "Senate Dems face brutal 2024 map with at least eight undecided incumbents," Everett writes in his headline, not mincing words. 

Come 2024, 33 seats will be up for re-election, with 23 of them including Democrats, and many of them in Republican or toss-up states. In his report, Everett examines whether a significant amount--at least eight--will run again or decide to retire.

RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...PodCast

 

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