By John Ubaldi, “Ubaldi Reports”

Energy impacts every segment of the U.S. economy, and the American public is feeling the effects of higher gas prices and higher utility costs, but the only answer from the Biden administration is to ask foreign energy producers to produce more and tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

Neither option by Biden is having any substantial impact on reducing high energy costs that is being felt by the American consumer.

The Democratic Party and President Biden have been all in eliminating fossil fuels and transition America to clean energy, unfortunately this is having a destructive impact on the U.S. economy which is also one of the many contributors to higher inflation.

One of the policies that Biden routinely turns to is tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, and release 15 million barrels, this is on top of the already over 180 billion barrels he authorized in March.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserves was set up in the 1970’s, intended to ensure a supply of oil in the case of national emergency, not for political considerations.

The Biden administrations rational for tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, was using the midterm elections as his national emergency, as his party the Democrats are likely to lose the House and potentially the Senate as well.

The decision by the president has reduced the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1984.

Once Biden announced he was tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he was asked by media reports when would he begin backfilling the reserve, his response is it will begin to be refilled when the price of a barrel of oil falls below $72 a barrel, currently its around $90, unfortunately this may or may not happen in the near term or anytime in the future.

This is where past decisions by Democrats are now coming back to haunt the Biden administration. Because in March 2020, then President Donald Trump proposed to back fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its maximum capacity, filled with American-produced crude oil, this would have involved the purchase of around 77 million barrels of oil.

The decision by the Trump administration was essential to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its max limit possible when oil was trading at $24 a barrel, but he was stymied by Democrats.

Trump placed this $3 billion purchase in a spending bill which was under consideration on Capitol Hill, unfortunately, Democrats labeled this as a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry, as reported by RollCall.

The proposal by Trump ran into intense opposition from Democrats, and had this proposal by the president stripped away with then-Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) personally taking credit for killing the measure.

This was extremely shortsighted by Democrats and was a definite political move to cater to the progressive base of the party, and Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette in the Trump administration stated, “If you believe in the purpose of the SPR, now is the perfect time to make sure it’s full,” and continued “We’re expecting that Congress is going to be supportive of this.”

Well Democrats played politics and now it’s coming back to haunt America!

The impact of Democrats and Schumer’s political move to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its maximum capacity is being felt right now, which cost the U.S. billions in potential lost profits and further hampered the Biden administration from which he had fewer barrels at his disposals to counter rising gas prices.

Bloomberg News Steven T. Dennis commented last month that on Twitter, Dennis noted that environmental groups cheered Schumer’s blockade. “VICTORY!” tweeted Friends of the Earth on April 3, 2020. “The Energy Department dropped its plan for a $3 billion Big Oil bailout! Thank you @SenSchumer and Senate Democrats for stopping this administration from exploiting a global pandemic to help polluters profit.”

With energy prices hovering 60% above where they were when Biden took office, the administration is cajoling autocratic regimes such as Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and OPEC nations to include Russia to produce more to help lower prices at what Americans pay at the pump.

Because of Democrats and Biden’s anti-energy polices they have taken America from energy independence just two short years ago to energy dependent on autocratic dictators around the globe, and to had further insult the U.S. is currently facing a diesel shortage.

This will definitely be a cold and expensive winter for America!