Senate Puts President Bush In His Place But Was It Warranted?

Over President Bush’s pleas to the contrary, the Senate almost unanimously (97 to 1) approved a measure that will halt the further purchase of strategic oil reserves. Since it was passed by such a large majority, the measure cannot be vetoed by the President, so it looks as if President Bush has lost this battle for good. "Why on earth should we be putting oil underground at a time of record high prices?" Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the measure's chief sponsor, argued in a LA Times article. Democrats have been calling for this action for quite some time, but more recently Republicans have taken their side on the argument as well. Considering how much oil has been going up, though, this hoarding of oil might prove to be one of President Bush’s best investment decisions yet.

Under President Bush’s guidance the government has been adding about 70,000 barrels of oil a day, in comparison to the approximately 21 million barrels of oil the U.S. consumes each day, according to the LA Times. Since the amount being hoarded is minimal compared to total usage, the impact of suspending further stockpiling won’t be that great, but some economists figure it could save consumers as much as 3 to 5 cents per gallon on gas, according to the LA Times.

It is not hard to see that the motivations of many of these politicians is to get re-elected, but Bush doesn’t have that problem, so logic would say his only incentive is to do what is best for the country going forward. The main reason he gives for the stockpiling is energy security, which certainly has validity, yet I think it is proving to be an even better investment.

Here are some numbers to consider: Our national oil stockpile sits at approximately 702.7 million barrels, with an average price paid of $28.42 a barrel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy website. Since oil is more than $125 a barrel, that means that thanks to the policies upheld and pushed by Bush, we have created almost $68 billion of “oil equity,” so to speak. Considering many of the other dumb decisions Bush has made over the years, this might actually be one of his better ones, so let’s cut him a little slack. If the U.S. were now to release oil reserves to ease oil prices until we hit the stockpile point we would have been at had we listened to the previous Democratic oil outcries, we would be able to reduce gas prices by much more than the 3 to 5 cents we may see because of the current measure just passed by the Senate. So maybe there really is some method to Bush’s madness.