Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was mocked after her proposed amendment to prevent the Biden administration from selling oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) failed.
New rules implemented in the House of Representatives by the chamber's new Republican majority allow any lawmaker to propose amendments to any proposed legislation, which led to at least 140 amendments being proposed for a bill regarding the use of the SPR.
Greene's proposed amendment failed with a final tally of 14-418.
You can watch the amendment fail for yourself in the video below.
New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez weighed in after the amendment's failure, noting her own amendment last year to the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 2023 "did better than this" even though it was ultimately voted down.
Ocasio-Cortez's amendment added MDMA and psilocybin to the list of substances authorized for an official study on opioid alternatives, removing a barrier scientists had long complained complicated efforts to study the medical benefits of psychedelic drugs.
Meanwhile, Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert—with whom Greene has butted heads more than once—celebrated after "all three of [her] amendments passed."
One of Boebert's amendments increased the allowable percentage of federal lands for oil and gas leasing while another directs Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to identify areas within the Thompson Divide area of Colorado to lease.
While Republicans are still working on the bill, the news Greene's amendment failed so spectacularly prompted her critics to mock her profusely.
The SPR is the largest publicly known emergency supply in the world and the current inventory is displayed on its official website.
The United States started the petroleum reserve in 1975 to mitigate future supply disruptions as part of the international Agreement on an International Energy Program, after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973–1974 oil embargo.
Democratic President Joe Biden recently announced he would restock the SPR now that oil prices have declined and purchased 3 million oil barrels to restock the reserve. It's the latest development in a long term strategy announced in March 2022, when his administration released 1 million barrels of oil per day from the reserve for 180 days in an effort to combat spiking gas prices.
The Biden administration threatened to veto GOP-sponsored legislation that would restrict the release of oil from the SPR.
Energy Secretary Granholm said the bill would “needlessly aim to weaken the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s usefulness as a tool to ensure energy security in America.”
