Scalise on Biden's Veto Threat: 'Maybe the Calculator's Broken at the White House' (January 2023)

In January 2023, the new Republican majority in the House took up H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act. The bill would have tied future emergency sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the government’s oil stockpile, to a plan for expanding oil and gas leasing on federal lands [1][5]. On January 23, the White House issued a formal veto threat [1]. During the House debate, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana read the threat aloud and challenged its central claim. This video shows his remarks. Quotes are transcribed from the House floor video and checked against a second transcript; the administration’s statement is quoted from its official text [1].

Key Moments

”A veto threat should be a rare exercise”

“The president actually issued a veto threat on this bill. Now, a veto threat should be a rare exercise that you reserve for policy that might hurt the country,” Scalise said. “Well, let’s read why the president issued the veto threat.” He read the administration’s statement that its use of the reserve “has been essential to protecting our energy security and to lowering gas prices for Americans."

"Maybe the calculator’s broken at the White House”

“I hope I’m not the one that breaks this news to the White House, but Mr. President, your policies have not lowered gas prices for Americans,” Scalise said. “Maybe the calculator’s broken at the White House, but we did the math. Let’s do some fact checking. Since Joe Biden took the oath of office, gas prices have not lowered. They’ve increased 50 percent.” He suggested that once the president realized prices were up, “he might reverse the veto threat.”

Background: What the Reserve Is

The Energy Department describes the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as “the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil,” established “primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products.” The oil is stored in underground salt caverns at four sites along the Gulf Coast, with an authorized capacity of 714 million barrels, and emergency sales are made when the president finds one is required under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act [7]. That is why the fight over H.R. 21 was about more than one year’s gas prices. House Energy and Commerce Republicans said the bill would stop “politically motivated, ‘non-emergency’ sales” and keep the reserve “available during true supply emergencies” [8], while the administration described its 2022 sale as “the largest-ever emergency release,” made after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine [1].

What the White House Said

The administration’s Statement of Administration Policy said H.R. 21 “would significantly weaken a critical energy security tool, resulting in more oil supply shortages and higher gas prices for working families.” It pointed to the reserve’s record release after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine: “The results speak for themselves: today, gasoline prices are $1.60 per gallon lower than their peak this summer and below their pre-invasion levels.” It added that “the Treasury Department estimates that SPR actions reduced prices at the pump by as much as 40 cents per gallon,” and it said domestic oil production was “up by more than 1 million barrels per day under President Biden.” It ended: “If Congress were to pass this bill, the President would veto it” [1].

The Numbers Behind Scalise’s Math

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly average for regular gasoline backs Scalise’s point that drivers were paying far more than when Biden took office [2]:

Week of January 18, 2021 (Biden took office January 20): $2.379 a gallon.
Week of June 13, 2022: a record $5.006.
Week of January 23, 2023 (the day of the veto threat): $3.415, about 44 percent above inauguration week.
Week of January 30, 2023: $3.489, about 47 percent above inauguration week.
“As much as 40 cents.” The figure the White House leaned on was a Treasury Department estimate and an upper bound, not a measured result [1].
The cost to the reserve. The releases drained the stockpile. EIA data show it held about 638 million barrels in January 2021 and about 372 million in January 2023. It bottomed out at about 347 million barrels in July 2023, the lowest level since August 1983 [3].

What Happened Next

The bill: The House passed H.R. 21 on January 27, 2023, by 221–205; every Republican voting and one Democrat supported it [4]. In the Senate it was referred to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and never received a vote [5].
Refilling: The reserve was partly rebuilt to about 395 million barrels by January 2025 [3].
A new emergency release: On March 11, 2026, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that 32 nations in the International Energy Agency had agreed “to President Trump’s request to lower energy prices with a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products,” and that President Trump had authorized 172 million barrels from the U.S. reserve, which the department said would be more than replaced with about 200 million barrels within a year [6].