Senate voted 97-1 to stop filling SPR

May 13, 2008,
Congress votes to stop filling oil reserve
President Bush disagrees but won't veto bill expected to cut a few cents off gas

By RICHARD SIMON
Los Angeles Times

Senators approved the measure by a veto-proof majority of 97 to 1. The two Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, returned to the Capitol from the campaign trail to vote for the measure. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP nominee, supported the measure but was absent for the vote.

The House later followed suit, approving it 385-25.

700 million barrels stored

Bush has resisted calls to suspend the delivery of about 70,000 barrels a day to the emergency stockpile, contending it would have little influence on prices in a nation that uses about 21 million barrels a day, while weakening the nation's energy security. Instead, Bush has assailed Congress for not doing enough to spur domestic production.

About 700 million barrels of oil are stored in the underground reserve on the Gulf Coast, established after the 1973 Arab oil embargo to protect against supply cutoffs.

full: http://www.chron.com/...