Biden sees Trump, and doubles him — “what price, genius?” Chuck Schumer crows.

Oops! Bidet now admits that Trump had it right.

The Biden administration announced plans Thursday to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) two years after Democrats blocked the Trump administration’s similar but cheaper proposal.

According to the announcement, the Department of Energy (DOE) said it would initiate a long-term SPR replenishment plan involving a purchase of 60 million barrels of oil that would likely occur in 2023. 

President Joe Biden has ordered a 50-million-barrel SPR release in November, a 30-million-barrel release on March 1, and a 180-million-barrel release on March 31 to combat rising gasoline prices.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the SPR, designed to store 714 million barrels of crude for emergencies, is currently at less than 600 million barrels, its lowest level since 2002. A release of 180 million barrels is expected to take the stockpile to about 400 million barrels, its lowest level since the 1980s, by the end of the year.

However, Democrats [previously] rejected an effort from former President Donald Trump in March 2020 — when the WTI benchmark declined to just $14.10 per barrel — to buy 77 million barrels of oil for $3 billion to replenish the SPR. On March 25, the Trump administration canceled the plan after its required funds weren’t appropriated in the 2020 coronavirus stimulus package.

On the same day that the DOE canceled the replenishment plan, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said that he had successfully removed the “$3 billion bailout for big oil” from the legislation.

Final cost? Who knows? But here’s a hint:

“To be clear: the SPR needs re-filling, and today’s statement in part reassures Washington plans to do so,” Javier Blas, an energy and commodities columnist for Bloomberg, tweeted. “But to pretend the DoE can anticipate future oil prices and demand, particularly over a one-year-plus horizon is quite far-fetched.”

If prices remain at current levels, the 60-million-barrel purchase ordered by the Biden administration Thursday could cost taxpayers more than $6.5 billion.

Rollcall, March 25, 2020: Oil purchase to fill strategic reserve dropped from stimulus

The administration used low oil prices to justify purchases for the reserve

The Trump administration's plan to top off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ran into a blockade Wednesday after lawmakers excluded $3 billion in funding for oil purchases from the massive stimulus package before Congress.

Senate Democrats took credit for stripping out that money from the Senate bill, unveiled Wednesday, calling it a “bailout” for the oil industry.

“If you believe in the purpose of the SPR, now is the perfect time to make sure it’s full,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said on March 19 of the low prices. “The purpose of this is to mitigate these types of disruptions,” he said. “We’re expecting that Congress is going to be supportive of this.” The DOE proposal is open to small and midsize U.S. producers with fewer than 5,000 employees.

One promise he’s sticking to, though: Joe Biden vows to ban oil and gas drilling if elected President