June 17, 2010 01:48 AM UTC

Bennet's Big Kiss to Big Oil

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• by: wade norris

From Senator Bennet’s email for donations today:

“Too often these days we’re waking up to newspaper headlines that prove what all of us already know: the old ways just aren’t working.

In the past few weeks we’ve seen profound examples of this, with lax regulations and long-standing corporate loopholes leading to catastrophic financial and environmental disasters.

This is completely unacceptable. I know we can do better.”

Yesterday Senator Bernie Sanders offered an amendment to close one of those  ‘long standing corporate loopholes’ – Huge Tax Credits to Big Oil companies.

But Senator Bennet, the same one sending out fundraiser appeals on closing corporate loopholes, decided to vote with the Republicans to keep that loophole open.

From Roll Call

http://www.senate.gov/legislat…

S.Amdt. 4318  to S.Amdt. 4301  to H.R. 4213  (American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010)

Statement of Purpose: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate big oil and gas company tax loopholes, and to use the resulting increase in revenues to reduce the deficit and to invest in energy efficiency and conservation.

more

http://www.reuters.com/article…

June 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have repealed some $35 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks as it continued work on a bill that would raise taxes on investment fund managers.

Sanders argued that big oil companies making billions in profits do not deserve the tax breaks at a time when the nation is facing record budget deficits and rising debt.

“With a record-breaking $13 trillion national debt and an unsustainable federal deficit, the last thing we should be doing is giving tax breaks to oil and gas companies that have been making enormous profits,” Sanders said.

In light of what is happening in the Gulf, and the obscene profits Oil companies have made in the past decade, it is unfathomable that this amendment to recoup $35 Billion would not even get a simple majority.

It is because corporatists posing as Democrats like Bennet are not standing for us.

I will support his primary opponent, Andrew Romanoff – who would have voted for the amendment and has a plan to get us off of our Oil dependence.