![]()
- Stronger Yuan Needed for Global Rebalancing: IMF Chief
- Washington Not Trying to Contain China: Obama
- Japan Third Quarter GDP Jumps; 2010 Growth May Slow
- Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Green?
- Citi Rejects Terra Firma's Latest Bid to Save EMI: Report
- JP Morgan to Bid Over $3 Billion for Cazenove Stake
- Buffett: I Haven't Bought AMEX Shares in Years
- Bristol-Myers to Spin Off Mead Johnson Stock
- BlackRock: Central Banks To Be Net Buyers of Gold
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
- CNBC Video: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates - Keeping American Great
- U.S. Stocks Rally for the Second Straight Week
- Dollar is Not Plunging—So 'Calm Down': Market Strategist
- Strategists Say Markets Have More Upside — But How Much?
- Hirschhorn: Risk-Averse Traders
- Roginsky: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Financial Reform
- This Year's Biggest Thanksgiving Leftover: Cash
- TV Series Inks Unique Deal For Fight
MOST SHARED
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
- Japan Third Quarter GDP Jumps; 2010 Growth May Slow
- Taking a Page from Obama's Asia Agenda in Investing
- Sustainability Indices Sprouting Up
- For Investors, The New Green Looks To Be White
- The Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner 2009
- EADS Cautious on Full-Year Forecast after Earnings Dip
- Disaster Film '2012' Drowns Rivals at Box Office
- CNBC Video: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates - Keeping American Great
Congress voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to stop adding oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until crude prices fall below $75 a barrel, repudiating the Bush administration's policy of boosting the stockpile at a time of record fuel costs.
![]() |
The Senate voted 97-to-1 to suspend oil deliveries to the emergency oil reserve after most Republicans abandoned the president on the issue. The plan was tacked on to a flood insurance reform bill that passed 92-to-6, enough to override a presidential veto.
"Instead of hiding barrels of oil in the nearly full Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we want to put them on the market to increase supply and lower prices," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"When the American consumer is being burned at the stake by high gas prices this government ought not be carrying the wood. It's just that simple," said Democrat Byron Dorgan, the main
sponsor of the proposal.
The House approved a similar measure later Tuesday in a 385-to-25 vote, which also made the bill veto-proof. Supporters say the plan will boost oil supplies in the market and help lower energy prices.
Rep. John Dingell, Democratic chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said stopping deliveries to the reserve might "prick the speculative bubble" in energy prices.
The Bush administration opposes the move, saying suspending oil shipments would do little to cut oil prices, which reached a record near $127 a barrel Tuesday.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president's advisors have not recommended a veto of the bill at this time, but he added the president will not veto the Senate's legislation based on the oil reserve provision.
The administration says the country should increase the current emergency oil reserve of 703 million barrels, held at four underground storage sites in Texas and Louisiana, to offset any major supply disruptions.
The amount of oil added to the reserve in the first half of this year will average about 70,000 barrels a day. Shipments will be highest in May, totaling 3.8 million barrels -- or almost 123,000 barrels a day.
The Energy Department Tuesday received bids from oil companies to add millions of barrels of additional crude to the reserve during the second half of this year.
"As we work to increase our nation's energy security, we should be taking steps to strengthen our energy insurance policy, not weaken it," Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama voted to halt future oil deliveries. Republican presidential candidate John McCain was campaigning and missed the vote.
Separately, the Senate rejected a broader Republican energy measure which would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the waters off coastal states
where energy exploration is now banned.
- Where, what, how.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates spoke to Columbia students, and Buffett made the students a startling offer.
- For the chief of cable company Comcast, growth has been about making deals – generally very large deals.
- Some companies may start using insurance to shift carbon risk from their balance sheets to maybe... yours?
- The president and founder of Genesis Today wants to improve America’s health, and thinks Wal-Mart can help.
- Switzerland's privacy watchdog is taking legal action to force Google to make changes to its Street View service.












