Much of the policy of this administration is implemented as an emergency. We gave the President significant emergency powers, which create an obvious threat. The Congress and Supreme Court are supposed to serve as a check on that threat, but the administration's party has spent decades neutralizing those checks. And here we are.

We've lived in a constant state of "emergency" for a year and a half, buffered by our reserves of various kinds. But those can't last forever, and they are rapidly dwindling.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was previously tapped when Russia invaded Ukraine -- an actual emergency. We'd been gradually refilling it, but it was only half full before this. It won't last long if it becomes part of the perpetual emergency.