Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has called Trump every name in the book, is now begging for his help to get gasoline prices down.
To fully understand this ask, we have to go back to what happened during the Biden administration when gasoline prices started to soar.
I will come right out and say it now, that there is no way Trump can give in to this request.
The strategic petroleum reserve is meant to address a crisis, not serve as a political tool to use to lower gasoline prices.
It is there in the case of a natural disaster, national emergency, or if a conflict results in our oil supply being cut off. That is an oversimplified version of it, but that is its true purpose.
When Biden put his boot on the throat of the fossil fuel industry, he decided to tap into the reserves to take the pressure off gasoline prices, which I was completely against, as was the Republican Party.
At the time, the administration stated, "By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state and Northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most."
This is not the purpose of the reserves, and it was not a sound decision, especially since Biden had no real plan to refill the reserves.
When Biden took office, the reserve was sitting at more than 638 million barrels. And when Biden left office, it was under 347 million barrels.
Over and above draining the reserves, the overall impact of gasoline prices was minimal.
Not to mention that if our oil supplies were cut off for any reason, especially with Biden making us more reliant on foreign oil, it would have created a dire situation.
Schumer is now arguing that the reserves are meant for a situation just like this, and that Trump needs to release more oil.
He stated, "When wars and global crises disrupt energy markets, the United States has the ability to act, but President Trump and his administration are refusing to do so. Trump should release oil from the SPR now to stabilize markets, bring prices down, and stop the price shock that American families are already feeling thanks to his reckless war."
As we saw when Biden was in office, it will not stabilize the market. The answer is to encourage more domestic production as well as keep the global oil supply lanes open, which Trump is addressing at the Strait of Hormuz, even offering to escort supply ships through, so countries like China are not being strained for energy supplies.
Higher oil prices, unfortunately, are the cost of a military action like Operation Epic Fury. Yes, it will sting everyone for a small amount of time, but the conflict will be over soon, and prices will come back down. We cannot jeopardize national security because Schumer and Democrats want to score higher in their respective political polls.
