Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Senate's Vote to Suspend Filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

May 13, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement after the Senate passed an amendment to the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007 (S.2284) to suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Senator Obama is a co-sponsor of this provision, which passed by a vote of 97 to 1.

"Today, I joined my colleagues in the Senate in approving a proposal to temporarily suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) while gas prices are high. The SPR serves a critically important function in our national fuel security strategy, and at 97 percent full, that function is maintained. With oil now at more than $120 a barrel, however, it does not make sense to continue diverting 70,000 barrels of petroleum each day away from consumers who are paying record high gas prices.

"This is a modest step. It does not solve our long-term energy problems, and must not divert our attention from the real answer to addressing high fuel prices. Ultimately, we must reduce our consumption of oil and increase the availability of alternative fuels, so that Americans are no longer beholden to the decisions of Middle East oil cartels."

Source: Senator Barack Obama