Joe Manchin: “I rise in support of the bipartisan amendment sponsored by my friends and colleagues, Senators Cruz, Fetterman, Ernst…”

“I rise in support of the bipartisan amendment sponsored by my friends and colleagues, Senators Cruz, Fetterman, Ernst, and myself. Let me just say about this--this is something that we own. The people of America own the SPR. It is ours. We don't own the oil from the private sector, unless we want to nationalize everything. I don't think we do. With that being said, I appreciate my good friend and colleague from Connecticut, and I am happy to work on all of the things that we are talking about here. What we have in front of us right now is the ability to finally say that the strategic oil reserves that the people of the United States own will not be compromised, especially by people who don't have our same values and would use it against us. We have seen the horrible effects of the Ukraine war when Putin basically weaponized energy. He weaponized oil. We can't allow that to happen. Here is the other thing about it: Following Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the United States ramped up production and exports to help meet global demand that had been devastating to the world. China, on the other hand, stockpiled oil and held back refinery production. While China was stockpiling, one of its state-owned companies purchased over 1.4 million barrels from the United States of America, the people of our great country, from our own stock reserves. That is what we are trying to stop. I am happy to work on all the other things. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.…”