Pompeo on Administration's Announcement to Tap Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Statement

"It's time for the President to take his focus off his flagging poll numbers and put it back on the needs of American families who are struggling to pay their energy bills and put food on the table."

On the heels of the announcement that the President and his Administration plan to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Congressman Mike Pompeo (KS-04), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the H.E.A.T team, made the following statement:

"House Republicans, through the committee on which I serve, continue to promote commonsense energy policies aimed at decreasing onerous EPA regulation and increasing our own domestic energy production. For example, just yesterday we passed Rep. Gardner's bill, The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act of 2011 (H.R. 2021). That bill would yield a million barrels per day of American oil and create 54,000 jobs in the process by ending Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) permitting delays.

"Unfortunately, President Obama continues to move in the opposite direction, heaping on additional regulations and hampering domestic production. Snatching oil from our domestic reserves to provide self-preserving political cover is unacceptable. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is intended to be accessed strategically in times of domestic emergency. Low approval ratings in the face of high gas prices do not constitute an emergency. Americans know better. They understand that the President's backwards energy policies and brazen unwillingness to open up domestic energy production are to blame for soaring gas prices. This short-term "quick fix" won't reduce prices and is no substitute for permanently opening domestic production.

"It's time for the President to take his focus off his flagging poll numbers and put it back on the needs of families in Kansas and all of America who are struggling to pay their energy bills and put food on the table," declared Pompeo.

Source