Posted on 07/23/2015 8:51:32 AM PDT by thackney
Lawmakers are eyeing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a piggy bank, but not without controversy.
The Senate is considering legislation that would partly replenish the u.S. highway trust fund with $9 billion worth of sales from the reserve, which at 69S.1 million barrels of oil is close to its 713.S-million-barrel capacity.
This month, the House passed a bill to sell 80 million barrels from the reserve to raise $7 billion to help pay for legislation to boost government drug approvals and research funding.
But proposals to tap the nation's oil stockpile as a way to pay for unrelated government programs have drawn opposition. The Senate Energy Committee chairman, the u.s. energy secretary and oil industry analysts all criticize the move as shortsighted.
The sale of crude from the reserve is one of about IS new funding sources that Senate leaders want to use to offset the cost of a $47.1 billion, multiyear reauthorization of the highway program.
The proposed sale of lOl million barrels from the stockpile, not slated to occur for several years, is expected to raise about $9 billion, making it one ofthe bill's more significant revenue sources.
Other sources include measures to tighten compliance with current tax laws, as well as changes to government fee structures and a smattering of spending cuts. The highway bill was stalled temporarily, but advanced in a procedural vote late Wednesday.
The U.S. government created the reserve after the oil embargo the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed on the u.S. in 1973, which sent global oil prices and u.s. gasoline prices skyrocketing. The reserve's purpose is to safeguard the u.S. against emergency supply disruptions like the OPEC embargo, according to the Energy Department, which manages numerous salt caverns along the Gulf Coast that hold the crude.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
We should not pay for government spending by selling Strategic Assets.
The GOP-e majority must have Highway construction Companies with wealthy Lobbyist.
That is the only thing they understand.
Incompetent and corrupt politicians have drained our Nation’s economic and personal assets dry. If they have their way, how long will it be for our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be on empty?
Where is our fuel tax per gallon going? To pay for the Obama vacations?
This really does strike me as impressively stupid.
It is true that gasoline taxes are a drop in the bucket of what it costs to maintain our roads.
Obviously the fairest answer is to raise the gasoline taxes, especially on the heaviest vehicles that do the most damage to the roads.
Taxing for Highways, Paying for Bike Lanes
http://www.wsj.com/articles/taxing-for-highways-paying-for-bike-lanes-1432591905
They had best ask their bankers in China if it is OK to sell of secured assets.
bonds are secured by the good faith and PROPERTY of the tax payer, all federally owned land and property is property owned by the tax payer and is therefore collateral for China.
It cost a lot more than fifty dollars a barrel to put it in… what fools
the fuel tax is far too low. Does not pay for much.
According to a 2013 analysis by the Heritage Foundation, at least 20% of gas-tax revenues in recent years went toward other programs, from light rail to bike lanes to landscaping projects. Some funds even went toward establishing transportation museums.
Adjusting for inflation and for oil that was paid in lieu of royalties, the per-barrel cost was $73.77.
Oil is now below $49.
http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3028.html?category=Energy&subcategory=Petroleum
It's because we're not getting our money's worth for construction projects.
If one is to sell assets should sell when the market price is high rather than low. Oil is under $50 right now. Given current market prices for oil and the world situation ... now is a good time to add to the reserves not deplete. These people are really quite stupid.
The old buy high and sell low strategy.
that’s probably true, but I don’t see it changing soon. Corrupt construction spending is a bipartisan boon at all levels of government
—yeah —new government economic wisdom— “buy high, sell low—”
Just brilliant... sell oil at a price low... and what? Make up the difference in volume or something?
These idiots couldn’t run a lemonade stand.
But those bicycle trails were competitively bid....
Oil is what $49 a barrel now. Throw another few hundered million barrels on the market and it will be in the 30s domestically.
I hate to see fuel taxes rise but how stupid is it to have a fixed rate tax instead of a % of the selling price?
Would you rather have a tax that you know will not cover inflation or one that at least has a chance of going up with inflation?
Oh, the problem is the putzes in the government don’t want to have a revenue source that may require variable spending plans... something like the we peons have to manage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.