Taking Another Swing

Hold your breath because it looks like the House is going to make another attempt at fixing some of the gaps in the energy bill.

Congressional Democrats will try again next week to take away tax breaks for oil companies in order to finance renewable-energy and building efficiency projects, but success remains elusive amid a shortage of votes in the Senate.

The U.S. House of Representatives is tentatively set to vote on Wednesday on the bill, which would repeal more than $17.6 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas producers over 10 years. Consumers would gain new tax breaks for buying plug-in hybrid cars. Companies would be able to continue taking tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects, extending breaks that expire at the end of 2008.

If these fixes make it out of the House then there is a great likelihood that it will face the " automatic filibuster" that has become the standard in the Senate since the GOP lost the majority and it will be hard to move past that. They votes are probably not there. The Senate Republicans have done everything they can to safeguard the the battered oil companies and their pitiful soaring profits. The Republicans don't care what it will cost the taxpayers now or in the future and the sure as hell don't care abut the environment.

The current tax breaks given to the oil companies are the premier example of Republican (and some Democratic) legislators placing big money contributors ahead of the interests of the American people Nothing is more important than protecting Exxon-Mobil's $40 billion bottom line. Never mind the soaring national debt. Ignore that Global warming claptrap. The wealthiest getting wealthier on the backs of the American taxpayer...priceless.

If these changes fail then under the current tax law, the tax breaks for many oil companies are set to rise in 2010.