Tom Cotton slams Biden for using strategic oil reserves: 'This is not just a gimmick, it's dangerous'

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Biden depletes emergency oil reserve

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., says the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for emergencies, but 'the only emergency I see is Biden’s polling numbers and the fact that we have a midterm coming up.'

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the Biden administration's excessive use of oil reserves is putting the United States in danger Thursday. 

Cotton said on "The Ingraham Angle" that he believes the Biden administration is using the oil reserves to help the Democrats' chances of keeping control of Congress in the November midterms.

"[We don't have] the Strategic Petroleum Reserve … to float Joe Biden's terrible poll numbers and try to help the Democrats limp into a midterm election," he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. "This is not just a gimmick — it's dangerous."

BIDEN'S 'USE IT OR LOSE IT' POLICY COULD DISCOURAGE FUTURE INVESTMENT: ENERGY EXPERT

Sen. Tom Cotton, President Biden.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images  | Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"What if, say, Iran, emboldened by a terrible nuclear deal, strikes refineries or production facilities in places like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates? What if a major hurricane hits Louisiana and Texas this year? That's why we have [the reserves]," he said.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. (AP Photo)

President Biden said Thursday that he was authorizing the release of 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next six months. 

"But if we release this oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve every day for the next six months, we're only treating the symptoms … the cause [is the] … war Joe Biden is waging on oil and gas production in America," he continued.

Sen. Tom Cotton. (Tom Williams-Pool)

"In 2019, at the peak of production under the last administration, we were producing more than a million barrels every single day than we're producing today. So that alone is what he's releasing from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [instead of] simply allow[ing] the oil and gas workers across America to produce the resources that God put underneath our soil."