From Record Highs to Real Relief: Refill SPR Now While Prices Are Low
Three years ago this month, Americans woke up to the highest gas prices in U.S. history. In June 2022, under President Joe Biden, the national average soared to over $5 per gallon, breaking records and breaking family budgets coast to coast.
The Biden administration’s response? Drain our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to artificially lower prices before the midterm elections, and then refill it at much higher prices, sticking taxpayers with the bill and inflating prices even more.
It was a reckless political gimmick disguised as energy policy. And now the consequences are clear:
- Biden sold off historic amounts of our emergency oil reserves.
- Then, when prices were still high, his team began buying oil back, costing taxpayers billions more than what we sold it for.
- This maneuver also sent false demand signals into the market, further fueling inflation and delaying real price drops for everyday Americans.
But today, gas prices have finally cooled, and President Trump has a real opportunity to fix the mess.
President Trump can do what Biden refused to and strategically rebuild the SPR at low prices that actually benefit American taxpayers and strengthen our national security.
Where Biden manipulated the SPR to score political points, Trump can restore it to its intended purpose: emergency readiness, not reelection gimmicks. At a time when geopolitical threats are rising and the Middle East is inching toward chaos, it’s critical we have the energy reserves to protect our homeland and support our allies.
Power The Future warned from the beginning: Biden’s SPR abuse would come back to bite us. Power The Future wrote at the time:
“American families will continue to suffer from high energy prices if the Biden/Harris administration continues their assault on our SPR and energy sector. This administration needs to realize that releasing more of our strategic reserves will not fix the problem; it will eventually create a much bigger one.”
Now, three years later, we have a chance to finally reverse course and rebuild America’s energy strength the right way that respects the American taxpayer and supports our national security.
June 16, 2025