I am thrilled that Sen. Kerry is pushing on this, along with Rep. Hinchey. Bravo to both! Note the remark about his broader environmental agenda (marked in bold, below).Go JK go!!
Legislation Targets Bush Giveaways
Washington, DC -- Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today re-introduced the Energy Fairness for America Act, which would repeal at least $25 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas companies, part of a broader effort on behalf of Kerry, Hinchey, and other Democrats to undo giveaways to oil giants. Kerry and Hinchey said the bill would save taxpayer funds and vowed to work aggressively to get the legislation approved this year.
“With oil companies raking in huge, record-breaking profits, there is no way the U.S. government should be giving away these massive tax breaks at the expense of American families,” Kerry said. “This legislation would go a long way to restoring the public confidence in our government and would help us recoup money that would otherwise go out the window.”
The Kerry-Hinchey bill repeals provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year, which provides $2.6 billion over 10 years in tax breaks for oil and gas companies. These giveaways are on top of the billions in tax breaks and subsidies already available to the oil industry through 2009 -- breaks that have existed for decades, but would be abolished under the Energy Fairness for America Act. Additionally, the bill would end the practice of allowing companies to get a break from paying fees owed to the federal government for oil and gas extracted from public lands.
"The first 100 hours energy bill in the House provided us with a great first step toward repealing the outrageous subsidies and other giveaways that this administration has green-lighted for the oil and gas industry,” said Rep. Hinchey. “Senator Kerry and I are now taking the next step toward ensuring that the government works even harder on behalf of the American people, not massive energy companies. Congress should be in the business of fighting for the American people instead of fighting to make energy companies ever more profitable at the expense of the American people. This bill shows the wide array of tax cuts and subsidies for Big Oil that should be on the chopping block."
Kerry and Hinchey said they will explore ways to pass the measure as an independent bill, as well as in the form of an amendment to a larger bill. In the coming days, Kerry will release additional details on his environmental agenda for this Congress.
Yesterday, the House passed their energy package targeting royalty breaks for big oil, the Clean Energy Act of 2007 (H-6) by a vote of 264 to 163. The legislation included many of the Kerry-Hinchey provisions.
On NPR a couple of days ago, it was mentioned that some of the oil giveaways originated, unintentionally, through attention lapses in the Clinton administration. Some of the Bush-era legislative favors to oil companies were essentially formal continuations of the mistakes that first occurred under Clinton's watch.
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