The White House announced on Tuesday that it will be selling another 20 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of its effort to lower gas prices. The Department of Energy will be issuing a notice of the sale, the fifth such measure that the president has ordered as energy costs for consumers skyrocket, Fox Business reported. At the same time, the White House continued to blame Putin’s ongoing Ukraine war for high costs at the pump, describing "disruptions posed by Russia’s invasion" for record costs while insisting that the administration’s measures are working. "In fact, the Department of the Treasury estimates that as a result of these drawdowns both domestically and internationally, the price at the pump for Americans is up to about 40 cents per gallon lower than it otherwise would have been," the White House announced. Republicans have been deeply critical of the White House’s previous selloffs from the Strategic Reserves, after it was revealed that millions of barrels of oil were shipping overseas, including to China. Related articles: Qatar uses gas to export Islam to Europe EU economy on verge of ‘full stop’ energy crisis Saudi Aramco reports 90% surge in quarterly profits Lapid: Gas prices to drop next week "The American people deserve answers as to why our emergency energy reserves are being sent to foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, compromising our energy security and national security," House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) told Fox News . McMorris Rodgers said on Twitter that the solution to the energy crisis was increasing domestic production, chastising Biden for asking the Saudis to increase oil exports during his visit to the Gulf kingdom. “The answer to President Biden’s energy crisis is right here in front of him,” she said. “It’s not in Saudi Arabia or any other foreign regime. It’s in the fields of Texas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and across the United States, and at the hands of American workers and producers.” In recent weeks, gas prices have decreased from the nation-wide average of over $5 per gallon in June, but the current Tuesday average of $4.32 was still drastically higher than the $2.39 average at the start of Biden’s term in January 2021.
