President Biden has called for an end to the Big Oil Bailout – tax breaks and loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry – in his American Jobs Plan. But getting it done will require an act of Congress, and that means it’s time to dust off your lobbying shoes and demand Congress take action.
Ending fossil fuel subsidies to pay for clean energy investments makes good sense. And Biden and team want will need the money to fund their ~$2 trillion American Jobs Plan to invest in infrastructure. To pay for it, they need to stop spending money on things we don’t want, so we can afford the things we do want. And there’s already legislation in Congress to do just that by abolishing dozens of tax loopholes, subsidies, and other special interest giveaways littered throughout the federal tax code – eliminating absurd corporate handouts and saving American taxpayers up to $150 billion over the next ten years.
But, the fossil fuel industry will fight hard to keep this money. And the pandemic relief act (CARES) shows that they are shameless about stealing money intended for struggling workers and businesses, using it to pay their executives big bonuses, and then laying off workers.
Add to that intense pressure that Fossil fuel subsidies are tricky to find and shut down because they are spread like a cancer through the entire US budget — from tax breaks for oil drilling, to special bailouts just for fracked gas exports.
Ultimately, it’s up to Congress to decide what projects to fund with taxpayer money and which taxes to raise or lower. And fossil fuel companies know it, which is why they spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying our elected officials every year. In the past, those lobbyist and campaign contributions have successfully bamboozled the same Democratic leaders in Congress who are now debating Biden’s infrastructure plan.
Democrats in Congress got fooled once by the fossil fueled fascists in the Trump’s administration. And you know what they say about the second time. Which is why we’re fighting hard this month to get every Democrat in Congress on board not just with the idea of ending fossil fuel subsidies, but with the strongest bill out there to DO it – the End Polluter Welfare Act.
If we build a big enough block of Democrats who support this agenda-setting piece of legislation, Congressional leaders and committee chairs will be forced to include it in the infrastructure plan. Instead of sneaking in a big oil bailout, we can make 2021 the last year US Taxpayers give a time to the FF industry.
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