Boehner: Curb Big Oil Tax Breaks

Politico reports:

House Speaker John Boehner says he’s open to calls from the White House to curb some of the $4 billion in oil and gas subsidies and tax incentives, as Washington continues to feel the heat over high gas prices.

Oil and gas producers are “gonna pay their fair share in taxes and they should,” Boehner told ABC News.

“I don't think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion allowances. But for small, independent oil and gas producers — if they didn't have this — there'd be even less exploration in America than there is today.”

President Barack Obama is pushing for cutting $4 billion in oil and gas industry tax incentives to pay for green and renewable energy projects.

"I wanna see the facts. I don't wanna hear a bunch of political rhetoric," Boehner said, adding he wants to "look at the facts. And what will it do to have — its impact on jobs."

Boehner’s comments come amid not only record high gas prices but also big first quarter earnings major oil companies are expected to report later this week, at least compared with the dour situation for the industry and the overall economy during the first quarter of last year.

Boehner’s laurel of sorts is not guaranteed to bring about any particular concession on the part of Republicans to reduce some of the subsidies Obama and Democrats are trying to carve out.

“Listen, everybody … wants to go after the oil companies. And frankly, they’ve got some part of this to blame,” he said.