CNN/AP: Democrats to quickly target oil industry tax breaks

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats to quickly target oil industry tax breaks
November 19, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats are targeting billions of dollars in oil company tax breaks for quick repeal next year. A broader energy proposal that would boost alternative energy sources and conservation is expected to be put off until later.

Hot-button issues such as a tax on the oil industry's windfall profits or sharp increases in automobile fuel economy probably will not gain much ground given the narrow Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an outline of priorities over the first 100 hours of the next Congress in January, promises to begin a move toward greater energy independence "by rolling back the multibillion dollar subsidies for Big Oil."

Yet the energy plan being assembled by Pelosi's aides for the initial round of legislation is less ambitious than her pronouncement might suggest.

For the most part, the tax benefits are ones that lawmakers talked of repealing this year when Congress struggled to respond to the public outcry over soaring summer fuel prices and oil companies' huge profits....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/19/congress.energy.ap/index.html

[Greeby]

1. Excellent nt

[babylonsister]

2. 2007 is really going to be fascinating. Can't wait! nt

[rustydog]

3. Hey man, I don't know if this is good or not....

A co-worker justified the billions upon billions of excess profits as go old American capitalism and we should not restrain it in any fashion.
Of course he is fucking nuts and dead wrong. i pointed out BP made a measly 5 billion in profits in the first QUARTER of 2006. they made billion dollar profits sfor some time but were too busy shoving the excess cash down their throats, in all their pockets and would shove the money up their ass before putting some towards upkeep on the alaska pipeline. Greedy FUCKS.

I hope the legislature hammers them good.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. Watch the gas prices shoot up over this

They will anyways, but this is a good scapegoat excuse for the companies.

[gratuitous]

5. Well, $500 billion of taxpayer money

The taxpayers have shelled out over $500 billion to wage a couple of wars so that the oil companies could post record quarterly profits; it seems only fair that the oil companies should now be tapped to pay back some of that largesse. Naturally some of their apologists will squeal like stuck pigs (for pigs they are) that the Democrats are restraining the free markets, and it's the God-given right of oil companies to make obscene profits while letting their pipelines go to pot.