House GOP blocks ending Big oil corp subsidies

[BostonPirate]

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/67...to-vote-on-repealing-oil-inudstry-tax-subsidy

“We need to take back those tax breaks and use them — use them for things that are important, but not for oil companies,” Rep. Edward Markey (Mass.), the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said on the floor Thursday before the vote.

Democrats also cast the oil industry tax break repeal proposal as a deficit-reduction measure Thursday. The proposal would result in $12 billion in revenue over the next decade, Bishop’s office said.

“We have an opportunity here today to see where Democrats and Republicans stand on deficit reduction,” Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said on the floor.

But Republicans blasted the effort by Democrats as political posturing.

“We’re in this situation because of this administration’s policies that have shut off energy supply,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on the floor before the vote.

Scalise argued that the oil industry would pass on their extra costs to consumers if their tax subsidies were repealed.

20 republicans blocked the procedural maneuver, and the entire house of reps, voting on party lines, went with big oil.

So the republicans have blundered into another political mine field by continuing corporate handouts to an industry that is bloated and making record profits as the average consumer pays four bucks a gallon at the pump.

The word OBSCENE comes to mind.

The Koch bros are getting their moneys worth out of this house of reps, thats for sure.

Old Boner is now officially their Bitch.

 

[hotatlboi]

Of course they did.

Citizens United enables their corporate cronies to pour millions into their campaign coffers. They are not going to piss off big business now.

 

[T-Rexx]

This is hardly surprising.

For Republicans, there is no such thing as wealthy enough. Not for corporations or individuals. Every effort must be made to shift every last dollar from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. It is un-American to ask the fabulously wealthy to contribute anything to the progress of the nation.

 

[barnbuddy]

btw, record net profits for most oil concerns in 1st Q 2011

 

[Kulindahr]

Of course they did.

Citizens United enables their corporate cronies to pour millions into their campaign coffers. They are not going to piss off big business now.

I know Obama told that lie, but it's still a lie -- the Citizens United decision did no such thing.

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has been greeted with screaming dismay by most liberals. Many of them mistake the decision for doing things it did not do: for example, one hyperbolic letter to The New York Times asserted that the decision overturned "the century-old ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns." It did no such thing. Corporations are still banned from contributing to a candidate or to a candidate's campaign. The assertion was wrong, and the Times was remiss in publishing such a factually false claim.

More seriously, in his State of the Union, President Obama said that the Court's decision "reversed a century of law." It did no such thing. Congress did enact a law about a hundred years ago that barred direct corporate contributions to election campaigns. But that law was not involved in the Citizens United case, and remains unaffected by it.

source is Huffington Post

 

[hotatlboi]

I know Obama told that lie, but it's still a lie -- the Citizens United decision did no such thing.

Ok, the distinction exists but it's really an pedantic one.

They cannot contribute directly to the campaign, but they can spend money on advertising for the campaign.

If they could contribute directly to the campaign, a lot of the money would end up being spent on advertising, so the end result is pretty close to the same.

 

[SteveyBoyLA]

The GOP does not get it. Ditch the tax breaks for oil companies, and get behind clean energy, including renewable resources (e.g., wind, solar, geothermal) and hydrogen-based technologies that don't emit greenhouse gases. The extra bonus here is the jobs that will be created by manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, and other tangible assets MADE IN THE U.S.A. This strategy that perpetuates our continued reliance on fossil fuels by kissing the asses of the Middle East oil producers and Big oil corps is a loser.