Republican Senators Help Dem Challengers by Closing Ranks Around Continuing Oil Subsidies

Filed in National by on May 18, 2011

Republicans senators, some of whom had signaled that they would vote to end the absurd tax subsidies for profitable oil companies, voted Tuesday night with their party leadership to keep those subsidies in place.

It is nice to see that Democrats are finally using straightforward votes to put the Republicans in hard to defend election day positions.

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Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (8)

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  1. cassandra_m says:
    May 18, 2011 at 8:36 am

    This is via the Congressional Progressive Caucus post up on Facebook:

    Oil & Gas Companies spent more than $16M to elect Republicans last year.

  2. jason330 says:
    May 18, 2011 at 8:41 am

    I’m constantly amazed at how cheap (in relative terms) it is to buy a congress. For a measly $16m, they get to keep the absurdly low effective rate of 9 percent.

    Hurray free market capitalism!

  3. Nancy Willing says:
    May 18, 2011 at 9:02 am

    Two GOP voted with DEMs and THREE DEMs voted with GOP to defeat this.

  4. Jason330 says:
    May 18, 2011 at 9:17 am

    Someone doesn’t get marketing. All the house Republicans voted to keep the handouts to oil companies, and all the the GOP Seantors that voted to do so get to hear their opponents say things like this:

    “My Republican opponent voted to continue oil subsidies for the five largest oil companies while he complains that the government can’t afford to keep paying out more than it takes in.

    My opponent’s Republican solution to the budget deficit is to cut medicare and medicaid. He voted to cut programs that protect working class Americans because he thinks that the oil industry and the wealthy are more deserving of your tax money than you are.

  5. Jason330 says:
    May 18, 2011 at 11:40 am

    It’s a no-brainer*. My Republican opponent thinks that Big Oil needs taxpayer subsidies.

    Five largest oil companies raked in profits of $32 billion in the first quarter of 2011—while YOU AND I are paid four bucks a gallon at the pump?!?

    And yet, my Republican opponent thinks that BIG OIL should continue to collect billions in tax dollar handouts at a time when he says that we need cut spending for schools and seniors.

    My Republican opponent voted with Republican extremists to defeat a bill that would end this double-fisted cash grab and save $21 billion.

    My Republican opponent has chosen to stand with Big Oil companies like ConocoPhillips and BP , instead of the people of this state.”

    *The ads will write themselves. This one was taken from an email I just got from the DSCC

  6. ALL SEEING says:
    May 18, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Does anyone know what dems voted with the GOP on this issue?

  7. Jason330 says:
    May 18, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    The Democrats who voted to keep the subsidies in place are Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska). Begich is reported to have received $153,0555 from mostly oil interests, while Landrieu is the Democrats’ leading recipient of industry contributions. She has received more than $1 million from oil interests since 1999. To see a complete list of oil and gas industry donations to politicians, click here.

    Cheap!

  8. jason330 says:
    May 18, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    My Republican opponent voted to protect corporate welfare for big oil companies while cutting to the bone programs average Americans depend on.

    My Republican opponent voted against a bill that would have taken away tax subsidies from the five largest oil companies, saving tens of billions of taxpayer dollars.

    My Republican opponent also voted with the Republican radicals in Congress similar vote that would have saved $53 billion in taxpayer funds, taking it away from the biggest oil companies.

    Even though the CEO of Shell Oil, John Hoffmeister, recently said, “Big Oil doesn’t need subsidies in the face of sustained high oil prices” my Republican opponent voted to give the subsidies anyway.

    The largest oil companies, between 2005 and 2009, have made a combined 485 billion dollars in profits. That’s almost half a Trillion dollars – But My REPUBLICAN Opponent still thinks that they need more.

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