Republican energy committee chief Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the nation’s oil reserve should not be treated by Congress as a “cash machine,” suggesting that House GOP attempts to sell off the reserve to pay for unrelated legislation is the wrong way to go.
“We keep [the Strategic Petroleum Reserve] around for good reason … in case the world slips and we find ourselves in need,” Murkowski said. “It is not an ATM for new spending … [which would] risk selling at the wrong time and at the wrong price.”
The chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee made the comments in opening remarks at a Tuesday hearing on modernizing the strategic petroleum reserve. The reserve was created in the 1970s in response to the Arab oil embargo.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed legislation earlier this year that uses the reserve to fund new healthcare research and development. The committee would direct the Enegry Department to sell off oil from the strategic reserve to fund the new programs. Congress also is looking at selling off oil from the reserve to help pay for highway funding.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, testifying at the hearing, agreed with Murkowski that the reserve should not be used as a way to drum up revenue.
