Manchin slams Biden for tapping strategic oil reserve while pushing ‘short-sighted’ energy policies

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Energy Committee criticized President Biden for tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Tuesday while pushing “short-sighted” energy policies that were contributing to the skyrocketing price of gasoline.

Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, said the move amounted to little more than a short-term fix to a larger problem stemming directly from the White House itself.

“Today’s release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an important policy band-aid for rising gas prices but does not solve the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation,” Mr. Manchin said.

“Historic inflation, taxes and the lack of a comprehensive all-of-the-above energy policy pose a clear and present threat to America’s economic and energy security that can no longer be ignored,” he said.

Mr. Manchin’s statement came in response to Mr. Biden’s announcement that he would release 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency supply of oil housed by the Department of Energy…. (Excerpts from the Washington Times)