Senate sides with big oil

Vermont's Independent Senator Bernie Sanders:

The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to roll back tax breaks that benefit the largest oil companies. The White House said the country “cannot afford to maintain these wasteful subsidies.” Sen. Bernie Sanders voiced disappointment after the Senate vote. “I voted to end oil company subsidies because we have a $14 trillion national debt, because some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world don’t need tax breaks, because some oil companies pay no federal income taxes, and because we desperately need to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Congress cannot balance the budget on the backs of middle-class working families without asking the wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations for shared sacrifice.” Was the Senate right or wrong? Take the poll »

Sanders last year called for the repeal of $35 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks over the next decade. His proposal would have devoted $25 billion to deficit reduction and put $10 billion over 10 years into an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant Program. The vote last June 15 on Sanders' amendment was 35 to 61. At that time, 22 Democrats bucked the wishes of the White House and voted against the repeal.

American taxpayers should not continue throwing $4 billion a year of their hard-earned money at oil companies raking in record profits and charging Americans $4 a gallon at the pump.

We should be using those giveaways to pay down the deficit especially at a time when oil companies are recording record profits, including nearly $36 billion in the first three months of this year alone.

What's more, current and former CEOs for the big oil companies have admitted that they don't even need these subsidies.

Independent studies show eliminating the tax breaks would not raise gas prices.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans support ending these wasteful subsidies.