From a House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing to discuss the SPR:
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stated that she does not support releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. She said the Reserve is intended to respond to national emergencies when oil supplies are severed, nothing that a supply cut has not occurred. James May, president of the Air Transport Association, said the price of gas is an emergency for the families of 32,000 airline employees who have lost jobs due to tighter airline budgets. Markey said Democrats in Congress desire to help lower the cost of gas in ten to twenty days, contrasting this with Republican’s calls for more drilling, an avenue he said would take ten to twenty years. Blackburn said Democrats have failed to develop a rational energy policy.