Sam Gibbons: “after 7\1/2\ years of no energy policy and skyrocketing fuel prices, the Clinton-Gore administration plans to release 30…”

“after 7\1/2\ years of no energy policy and skyrocketing fuel prices, the Clinton-Gore administration plans to release 30 to 35 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is not that we do not appreciate the gesture, but it is just a 2-day supply. But there is a bigger problem. This is the first time that the reserve has been tapped since 1991, when the United States was in the middle of the Persian Gulf War and our oil supply was in danger of being cut off. Madam Speaker, the administration's decision is ill-conceived, illogical, ill-advised, and perhaps even illegal. Even the administrations's own top advisors oppose tapping the oil reserve, including Treasury Secretary Summers, who said that the decision would be ``a major and substantial policy mistake.'' This Republican Congress has tried to promote a sound energy policy, both domestically and abroad, but the administration has vetoed every attempt at doing so. Yet 46 days before the election, the Clinton-Gore administration announces a desperate plan, which will not lower oil prices but will endanger our national security. Madam Speaker, I yield back the Clinton-Gore plan as a blatant political ploy. ____________________”