UPDATE 1-Senate OKs halting deliveries to U.S. oil reserve

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to suspend oil deliveries to the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve until crude prices fall below $75 a barrel, repudiating the Bush administration's policy of boosting the stockpile at time of record oil and gasoline prices.

The proposal to halt shipments to the emergency oil reserve, which cleared the Senate in a 97 to 1 vote, was tacked on to a flood insurance reform bill.

The House of Representatives was expected later on Tuesday to vote on a similar measure that supporters believed would put more oil supplies in the market and help lower energy prices.

The Bush administration opposes suspension of the oil shipments, saying the move would have little effect on cutting oil prices which hit a record near $127 a barrel on Tuesday.

The White House says the United States needs a bigger emergency oil reserve beyond the current 703 million barrels to offset any major supply disruptions.

"In the short run...we can stop putting oil underground and put some downward pressure on gas prices and oil prices," said Democrat Byron Dorgan, the main sponsor of the proposal. "When the American consumer is being burned at the stake by high gas prices this government ought not be carrying the wood. It's just that simple."

Separately, the Senate rejected a broader Republican energy measure that in addition to stopping oil deliveries to the reserve would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off coastal states where energy exploration is now banned. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; Editing by David Gregorio)