This month marks a bleak anniversary for American families — and a perfect illustration of the cost of Joe Biden’s failures. It was just three years ago, in June of 2022, when gas prices in the United States hit their highest level in history, topping $5.00 per gallon.

That’s back when the Biden White House tried to make you believe this was all just an unavoidable consequence of global events. While they were trying to spin “Putin’s Price Hike,” the data told a far more damning story: gas prices started climbing immediately after Joe Biden took office.

From his first day, President Biden declared war on American energy. He canceled pipelines, froze leases, threatened regulations, and proudly signaled to the world that under his administration, fossil fuels were enemy number one.

Predictably, markets responded. American oil production stalled. Investment dried up. Prices began their climb long before Vladimir Putin moved a single tank. By the time Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden’s energy mismanagement had already paved the way for a full-blown price crisis.

Remember: In early 2022, the Biden Administration’s response to Americans struggling with high gas prices was to simply buy an electric car. As the 2022 midterms approached, Biden faced the political fallout of his own policies.

In response, he didn’t encourage production or unleash American drillers. Instead, he reached for the most cynical tool at his disposal: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), America’s emergency oil stockpile.

Designed to be used in times of true national crisis — war, natural disaster, or supply collapse — the SPR was never intended to bail out failing politicians. But that’s exactly what Biden used it for. To try and save his party as midterm elections loomed in 2022, the president opened the spigot and drained nearly 200 million barrels from the SPR, the largest release in American history. He wasn’t trying to fix supply chains or repair his broken energy policy. He was trying to fix polling numbers.

In fact, Biden didn’t even bother pretending otherwise. His own White House press releases framed the SPR release as a response to “Putin’s price hike” — ignoring, of course, that prices were already surging well before Russian troops crossed the border. And the timing? Pure politics. As the 2022 midterms approached and Democrats faced the real prospect of losing control of Congress, the White House scrambled to ease prices at the pump in a transparent bid to soften voter anger.

The political gamesmanship went even further behind the scenes. In October 2022, as OPEC considered production cuts that would have sent prices soaring once again, Biden administration officials secretly begged Saudi Arabia to delay their cuts until after the election. Not reverse the cuts — just delay them long enough to avoid embarrassing headlines before voters went to the polls. The Saudis publicly confirmed the request. The Biden team was never trying to protect American drivers; they were trying to protect Democratic incumbents.

Today, America is paying the price for Biden’s short-term political fix. As war rages in the Middle East — this time with conflict escalating between Israel and Iran — the world sits on the edge of another energy shock. But our emergency reserve, which once held over 700 million barrels, is now dangerously depleted. According to the latest government data, the SPR sits at just over 400 million barrels — barely more than half full. That’s the lowest level in decades. And thanks to Biden’s manipulation, we’re entering this dangerous period with far less of a safety net.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created to give America breathing room during times of global chaos. Joe Biden used it as a campaign slush fund. He drained it to temporarily hide the consequences of his anti-American energy agenda, hoping voters wouldn’t notice the long-term damage. Now, as the world grows more unstable, America is weaker, more exposed, and less prepared — all because one president thought his poll numbers mattered more than the nation’s energy security.

Joe Biden mortgaged America’s oil security and Left our strategic gas tank dangerously low. The recklessness is breathtaking.

No wonder it’s an anniversary the Left would rather forget.

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Larry Behrens is the Communications Director for Power The Future and is the author of the book, “Sabotage: How Joe Biden Surrendered American Energy Independence.” He’s also appeared on Fox News, Newsmax and One America News. You can find him on Twitter at @larrybehrens or email at [email protected].

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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