The Smoking Tailpipe: Corrupt Republicans in Congress Preserve the SUV Tax [View All]

[lovedems]

http://www.theangryliberal.com/comoftheday.htm



Yesterday the republican-controlled House of Representatives passed Dick Cheney's energy bill, the one he worked on in secret with Enron executives in the Spring of 2001. To nobody's surprise, the bill looks exactly like what it is: A collection of giveaways and tax breaks for the bill's authors in the energy industry. And why wouldn't it? If Dick Cheney invited you to a secret meeting at the White House and said, "Hey, thanks for bankrolling that little moron and me in the last election. By the way, we're putting together a national energy policy. Wanna write it?" wouldn't you stick in a bunch of stuff to line your pockets? Of course, you aren't going to get this treatment from Cheney, but you will get to enjoy this steaming pile of dog poop legislation by paying interest on the increased national debt, breathing dirtier air, and perhaps dying of cancer. Isn't it fun to participate in the political process?

Republicans got off to a flying start by lying about the cost of the bill. Reported by its republican authors as costing $23.5 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has already corrected that figure to $31 billion. Then there were the tax breaks for the oil, coal, and electricity industries, purportedly designed to trick these industries into doing their jobs.