Staff Reports
At Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, President Joe Biden addressed the concerns of oil producers, which were met with laughter from House and Senate Republicans. The president noted that oil producers had not invested in production to keep gas prices down, instead opting to use their record profits to buy back their own stock. This remark was met with a chorus of laughter from the Republican side of the room.
The Biden administration has publicly stated its aim to increase oil refinery production, which they believe will lead to lower gas prices. To achieve this, they have suspended leasing for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and stopped the building of the Keystone XL pipeline. This has created friction with oil producers, leading to House Republicans presenting a bill that prohibits President Biden from selling U.S. oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to China and restricts non-emergency releases from the SPR unless domestic oil and gas production is increased by the administration.
The president’s remarks at Tuesday’s State of the Union Address were met with a mixed reaction from both sides of the aisle. While House and Senate Republicans laughed at his comment, Democrats applauded his efforts to reduce gas prices and increase domestic oil production.
The Biden administration has made it clear that they are committed to increasing refinery output in order to reduce gas prices and increase domestic oil production. This has caused some tension between the administration and oil producers, leading to House Republicans introducing legislation to limit the president’s ability to sell oil from the U.S.’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Despite this, President Joe Biden remains committed to his efforts to reduce gas prices and increase domestic oil production, as evidenced by his remarks at Tuesday’s State of the Union Address.
The preceding article is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Daily Caller
