NEW: Chuck Schumer’s Trump Attack Backfires, Exposes Shameless Hypocrisy

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is urging President Donald Trump to tap America’s emergency oil stockpile as gas prices surge, a dramatic reversal after Schumer and Democrats blocked Trump from refilling the reserve when oil was cheap.

With crude prices spiking amid the Middle East conflict, Schumer called on the administration to release barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, arguing it was built for exactly this kind of crisis.

Schumer said the reserve “exists for moments exactly like this.”

“When wars and global crises disrupt energy markets, the United States has the ability to act, but President Trump and his administration are refusing to do so,” Schumer said. “Trump should release oil from the SPR now to stabilize markets, bring prices down, and stop the price shock that American families are already feeling thanks to his reckless war.”

The political problem for Schumer: he took the opposite position during Trump’s first term.

In 2020, Trump sought to use roughly $3 billion from a COVID-19 stimulus package moving through Congress to purchase oil and refill the SPR while prices were in the basement. Schumer and congressional Democrats shot it down at the time, labeling it a “bailout” for the oil industry.

Back then, oil was around $29 a barrel. Now it has blown past $110 a barrel for the first time since 2022.

The SPR has capacity for more than 700 million barrels, but the stockpile is far below that level after massive drawdowns during the Biden years. Under former President Joe Biden, the reserve was tapped to ease high fuel prices during the post-COVID economy and again after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed energy costs higher.

At the end of Biden’s term, the reserve held about 415 million barrels, according to the Department of Energy.

Schumer supported those Biden-era releases, even praising the first drawdown in 2021 as “much-needed temporary relief at the pump.” He also used the moment to push Democrats’ long-term energy agenda.

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“Of course, the only long-term solution to rising gas prices is to continue our march to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and create a robust green energy economy,” he said at the time.

The White House says Schumer’s new demand is rich, given his past votes and his backing of Biden’s energy policies.

“Senator Schumer championed Joe Biden’s Green New Scam, which raised energy costs, threatened our national security, and stifled American energy independence,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said. “President Trump has been unleashing American energy dominance since day one, and now, American oil and gas production is at record highs.”

Oil markets have been jolted as Iran’s response to Operation Epic Fury put the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil shipments, under severe strain. The administration has not announced plans to release oil from the SPR.

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright has argued the fastest route to lower prices is restoring shipping lanes by neutralizing Iran’s ability to threaten tankers.

Wright said the disruption would last for “weeks, certainly not months.”

“We believe this is a small price to pay to get to a world where energy prices will return back to where they were,” Wright said. “Iran will finally be defanged, and now you can see more investment, more free flow of trade, and less ability to threaten energy supplies.”

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