Congress Defies Bush on Oil Reserve
May 13, 2008 | 9:19 pm | by t-blender |Rate It:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The House of Representatives voted to direct the Bush administration to stop filling the strategic petroleum reserve temporarily in an effort to alleviate increasing gas prices.
Both the House and Senate, which voted earlier Tuesday, exceeded the two-thirds vote required to override the president’s expected veto: The House vote was 385-25, the Senate vote was 97-1.
President Bush opposes the reserve measure because, he said, limiting supplies to the reserve could have national security consequences in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
He has also argued that the daily amount of oil put into the reserve pales in comparison to worldwide consumption and therefore would have a negligible impact on the price at the pump.
“Purchases for SPR [the reserve] account for one-tenth of 1 percent of global demand,” Bush said in April. “And I don’t think that’s going to affect price when you affect one-tenth of 1 percent, and I do believe it is in our national interests to get the SPR filled in case there’s a major disruption of crude oil around the world.” Video
Forget the reserves…let’s get to drilling in Alaska, Puerto Rico and our own land and tell these Saudi’s to go fuck themselves. This whole thing with the oil is a fucking scam.