Heating aid fails Senate/$14.5 Billion for the energy industry

[G_j]

ain't it grand?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/27/heating_aid_bill_fails_in_senate/

Heating aid bill fails in Senate
Plan would have added $2.9b for poor households

By Jim Abrams, Associated Press | October 27, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A measure to substantially increase funding for the federal home heating program failed in the Senate yesterday, with opponents deflecting arguments that soaring energy prices could force the poor to choose between heat and food.

Senators voted, 54 to 43, in favor of a proposal to boost the fiscal 2006 budget for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to $5.1 billion from $2.2 billion. But that was six votes short of the 60-vote majority needed to approve new spending not coupled with equivalent spending cuts.

Northern senators who pushed for increased spending for the program, led by Senators Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, argued that the surge in fuel costs will be crippling to low-income families.

People could have to ''choose between keeping the heat on, putting food on the table, or buying much needed prescription drugs," Collins said. ''No family should need to make such terrible choices."

..more..

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/29/AR2005102900573.html

Democrats criticize oil industry subsidies

By Julie Vorman
Reuters
Saturday, October 29, 2005; 11:52 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans recently pushed through legislation that would give more federal subsidies to the oil industry instead of trying to help U.S. consumers cope with sharply higher energy prices, the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee said on Saturday.

Rep. John Dingell of Michigan said Congress should focus on Democratic proposals to punish gasoline profiteering, invest in new energy technology, and encourage more energy efficiency.

"We must respond to the needs of the American consumers who are seeing the prospect of $4 a gallon gas and $1,000 monthly heating bills," he said in the Democrats's weekly radio address.

On October 7, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill that would give federal insurance to oil refiners whose expansion projects are delayed by lawsuits or regulatory snags. It also put the Energy Department in charge of permits for new refinery projects as a way to speed up approvals.

The bill was approved, 212-210, after Republican leaders held a five-minute vote open for more than 40 minutes to persuade some party members to change their votes.

..more..

[feistydem]

1. It's official: We are ruled by a Fascist Theocracy

[goddess40]

2. Just another way to subsidize the fuel companies

but by doing it directly they can cut out the middle man and continue to punish the poor for having the audacity to be poor. What a bunch of sick puppies.

[havocmom]

3. Poor Grandma Millie, fucked again

This time, ENRON had their henchmen do it.

[Ian David]

4. There are cars with a "W" Sticker on them...

The "W" stands for, "We have extra gasoline you can siphon."


Extra heating oil supplies for siphoning available here:
http://www.fundrace.org/neighbors.php

That should help poor people get through the winter.

[ComerPerro]

6. LOL.

[G_j]

5. ==

[insane_cratic_gal]

7. We need to get a list

of things they've voted against that would help the middle class... and run off copies and stick on every damn vehicle insight.

Are republicans really for working Americans?

And then just list the crap.. I just don't think middle class america has the time or the desire to find out what sort of corruption is going on and maybe it's time we gave them a wake up call.

[G_j]

9. good idea n/t

[tahoedenver]

11. Wake Up Calls Never Work

People are too concerned about their Hummers and their new sound systems. Even as America crumbles before our eyes there is nothing that can be done short of a complete revolution: social, cultural, political, and economic. Just like what we did a lot of in the 60's so we will have to do again. Corporate corruption gets worse by the day.

[Ian David]

13. Put them between the pages of free newspapers and then

put the newspapers back in the dispensers.

[G_j]

14. ++

:thumbsup:

[tahoedenver]

8. Another Pay-Off to Those Who Don't Need a Pay-Off

It always amazes me how those who don't need or deserve breaks and a hand-up always get fucked up the ass by those who they elect to represent them.

What the hell is big oil going to do with all this money? The oil companies the other day posted the highest profits in a quarter yet. It's fucking amazing the corrupt crap they can get away with.

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. Corporate government for Corporate Feudalism

...

[tahoedenver]

12. I second that

Just like in the video game Resident Evil, "Umbrella Corporations" will eventually form if this current state of events is allowed to continue. Mergers will cover every sector as "an umbrella" is raised over the entire domestic, and then world economy.

[SoCalDem]

15. Even if it had passed, the "aid" would not be so much for the poor

as an incentive "bonus" to the energy providers..

What NEEDS to happen is to nationalize energy ..exploration-production-distribution... so that the costs are borne euqally by all, and the benefits as well..

Poor people pay less,


Looting the federal treasury to pay the ransom for poor people TO the robber baron energy "folks" is not the solution

There are just some things that affect the whole public sector, that should NEVER be in private hands...

health care
energy
communication
airline travel
banking

to start with...

Those should all be pubic-owned..not for profit..co-op..

These are all necessities, and should be available at a fair price to all citizens.. If there's "any left", uit could be sold to non-Americans and the "profits" put back into the enterprise

[G_j]

17. excellent post

you are absolutely right on. Necessities for survival should not be part of the 'get rich' game. The battle over privatizing water is happening across the globe. These folks have no business capitalizing on the bottom-line necessities of life.
What kills me, is that here people would rather let robber barrens get rich at the expense of, and to the detriment of the poor, than consider something that RW idiots would call "socialism" (gasp!)

[Maine-ah]

16. ok, where do I find who voted which way?