Why Is Congress Nuking Northeast Gasoline Reserve As Part Of Bill To Avert Shutdown?

On Sunday night, Congressional negotiators revealed a bill which will fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year which began in October.

The 1,050-page legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66 trillion for FY24, which comes just days after lawmakers passed the fourth stopgap measure since Oct. 1 to keep the government funded a bit longer.

According to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer's office, the bill "maintains the aggressive investments Democrats secured for American families, American workers, and America’s national defense."

House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that "House Republicans secured key conservative policy victories, rejected left-wing proposals, and imposed sharp cuts to agencies and programs critical to the President Biden’s agenda."

But what neither of them mention is that the bill also nukes the entire Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve - which, at roughly 1 million barrels, is too small to matter on a national scale - but which could serve as a critical cache of energy in the event of another major disaster.

The Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve was established in 2014 following Hurricane Sandy, which cut through refineries and fuel terminals resulting in fuel shortages in some parts of the northeast. The rationale for draining it is that it "does not have the operational functionality that was envisioned post-Sandy," former President Trump said of the supply in 2017.

What's more, once the reserve is drained, the bill mandates that the entire thing will be shut down.

Then, the bill makes it even harder to establish regional reserves in the future - requiring several new layers of red tape. 

Is the government trying to cause another disaster? This supply is so small but crucial for its intended purpose that we're in 'just why?' territory.