Ending Taxpayer Giveaways to Big Oil

With the release of the President's budget and the approach of Tax Day, I took aim this week at one of the most egregious examples of wasteful federal spending: the billions in corporate welfare given each year to Big Oil despite high gas prices and record profits. On Tuesday, I introduced an updated version of the "Big Oil Welfare Repeal Act" that would reduce the deficit by $9.2 billion over 10 years by eliminating the unnecessary tax subsidy for the "major integrated oil companies:” BP, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Corp, and the Royal Dutch Shell Group. That's right. You're paying for gas twice: once at the pump and once on Tax Day. American taxpayers are padding the bottom line of some of the world's most profitable corporations. ExxonMobil and Chevron earned the highest and second-highest profits, respectively, of all U.S. corporations in 2012. In total, the five companies listed above recorded a total of $118 billion in profits in 2012, following their record profit of $137 billion in 2011. I think we can all agree that if this wasteful subsidy for Big Oil was proposed today, it would be dismissed immediately. Why then should Congress allow it to continue? I moved that question to the forefront yesterday when I attempted to force a vote on my bill on the House Floor. Unfortunately, my motion failed due to unanimous GOP opposition. This shouldn't be a partisan issue. Repealing the oil industry’s tax subsidies will not impact gas prices for American consumers. Oil is traded on a global market and each barrel of crude is sold for the same price, regardless of how much its production was subsidized. Big Oil passes this tax subsidy on to their shareholders, not to consumers. These five largest oil companies spent $42 billion in 2012—one-third of their profits—repurchasing their stock. And, less than 10 percent of Big Oil's profits are reinvested into exploration of new oil deposits each year. This is just one example. Where we find wasteful spending in the budget, we should work together to eliminate it. I do not begrudge oil companies their profits. I just think they should be satisfied with what they can earn on their own. Corporate welfare should not continue while programs that grow our economy and help average Americans make ends meet are facing deep cuts to pay off our nation’s debt.