Wyden Criticizes Administration Over Oil Purchases

GOVERNMENT 

Capitol News Connection

Washington, D.C.  February 6, 2008 1:19 p.m.

Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden says a Bush administration policy is hurting consumers at the gas pump.

The Department of Energy buys more than 50,000 barrels of oil every day to keep the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocked for potential emergencies. Wyden says that doesn’t make sense when oil prices are near record highs.

Ron Wyden: “What the Bush administration is doing by filling Strategic Petroleum Reserve with high-priced oil is essentially a trifecta of bad policy—it drives up the price for the consumer, drives up oil imports and drives up the deficit.”

Wyden is sponsoring a bill with six other Senators to stop the government from buying oil for the reserve. The ban would be lifted next year, or when the price drops to fifty dollars per barrel.

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