Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., told Newsmax Saturday that the administration of President Joe Biden must "unleash" domestic energy production to fight current high gasoline and oil prices that have continuously gone up since he took office in 2021.
"President Biden needs to unleash American oil energy production," Lesko said during "Saturday Report." "We have huge resources in the United States. And instead, he's taking millions of gallons of crude oil out of the strategic petroleum reserves, which are supposed to be for emergencies, and sending them to Europe, to India and to China, of all places. And so here we have Americans struggling with $5 a gallon gas, and he's sending our strategic reserves to China."
Reuters reported July 5 that some 5 million barrels of crude oil, removed from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under Biden’s authorization, were shipped to countries in Europe and Asia, including China, last month.
The authorization allows the drawdown of 1 million barrels a day through October to help with current high gas prices but is draining the emergency supply to its lowest levels since 1986, according to the report.
"The SPR remains a critical energy security tool to address global crude oil supply disruptions," a Department of Energy spokesperson told Reuters, adding that the emergency releases helped ensure stable supply of crude oil.
Lesko, however, said that prices have been rising ever since Biden took office in January 2021, and his policies, along with congressional Democrats, continue to make things worse.
"Ever since President Biden took office and the Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate, our gasoline prices have gone up steadily," she said. "The first day [Biden] took office, the national average of gasoline prices was $2.39 a gallon. Now the national average is right around $5 a gallon, so it's doubled. And if you look at a chart, each and every month that Biden and the Democrats have been in control, gasoline prices have gone up. And there's a reason for that, because their energy policies are terrible. Absolutely terrible."
Lesko said that instead of blaming small business gas station owners, oil executives and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden and the Democrats should be stopping their "war on oil" and ramping up production to meet the demand.
"I can tell you that if President Biden did one thing today, gasoline prices would go down, and that would be to encourage U.S. production of oil and gas instead of his war on U.S. oil and gas," she said. "Well, it's absolutely ridiculous, and it's against small business. But nothing surprises me, quite frankly, about the Biden administration."
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