* President Biden has announced that the government will be releasing 1 million barrels of oil a day from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help offset the loss of Russian crude oil from world markets, cut the costs for American consumers and starve Russia of revenue. The release, the biggest in the SPR’s 46-year history, would continue for six months. “This is a wartime bridge to increase oil supply into production,” noted President Biden.
* The Biden Administration plans to fully lift the pandemic border controls by May—as it expands border facilities and migrant-processing capacity.
* Lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol siege can issue subpoenas, but they can’t bring criminal charges. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice are being, in effect, lobbied by non-GOPster legislators to pick it up from here.