President Joe Biden defended his decision Wednesday to release another 15 million in oil reserves to keep gas prices low, just weeks before the midterm elections.
Reporters at the White House questioned Biden about his decision to release more oil from the national reserves, asking him if his decision was political.
“Not it’s not,” he replied. “Look, it makes sense, I’ve been doing this for how long now? It’s not politically motivated at all.”
Biden scoffed at Republicans for criticizing him for opening up the oil reserves again, as he has authorized the release of more than 200 million barrels.
“Where have they been the last four months?” he told reporters when asked to respond to Republicans. “That’s my response.”
Republicans have demanded that Biden do more to open up and incentivize domestic oil production.
“The problem is these guys are asleep,” he continued, referring to Republicans. “I don’t know where they’ve been.”
Biden falsely claimed he did nothing to slow or stop oil production in the United States.
“Let’s debunk some myths: My administration has not stopped or slowed U.S. oil production,” he said.
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But according to the Wall Street Journal, Biden has leased fewer acres for oil and gas in his first two years than any other administration at the same point since the end of World War II.
Biden also issued an executive order freezing oil and gas leases, a decision that has been tangled up in the courts.
The president also suspended oil production leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, after former President Donald Trump opened up the vast oil reserves for production.
Biden also ordered the halt of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would have moved 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to the United States.
