Dems Push Vote on Oil Tax Breaks

The Hill reports:

Democrats are trying to force Republicans into a series of uncomfortable votes on repealing billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks.

With gas prices nearing $4 a gallon, Democrats want to exploit what they see as a small crack in Republican ranks on the issue of oil industry subsidies.

Last week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested he is open to eliminating some oil industry tax breaks. But his office quickly walked back the comments. And House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said he supports repealing the subsidies, signaling a split among top Republicans on the issue.

Though the measures to repeal the tax breaks stand little chance of passage in the House, the votes would put Republicans “in a bind” as the public shows “increasing anger” about oil and gas prices and oil industry profits, a House Democratic aide said.

“I think there are already clear divisions within the House Republican caucus on how damaging it would be to vote to keep tax subsidies for an industry where the top five companies made more than $30 billion in the first three months of the year,” the aide said.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) rejected the idea that opposition to eliminating oil tax breaks could hurt Republicans politically.

“What needs to be addressed is we need to deal with our American energy consumption, and I think the public is going to demand that,” he said.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Interior and Environment subcommittee, echoed Hastings’s statements.

Asked if a vote on the tax breaks would allow Democrats more ammunition to tie Republicans to the oil industry, Simpson said, “They’re going to say that no matter what we do. That’s just the reality. If we were in the minority and they were proposing something we didn’t like, we’d be beating the crap out of them too.”