Sen. Bernie Sanders & Rep. Keith Ellison Introduce "End Polluter Welfare Act" (S3080)

For all those individuals out there who are constantly harping on and on about our current "welfare state" and how it's the single largest cause of our economic woes, here's your chance to make a real difference.

You now have the opportunity to get behind Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison who are introducing bills in both, the House & the Senate, that would end government subsidies to the oil, gas and coal industries which are some of the most profitable industries in the history of the world. The bill is entitled; "End Polluter Welfare Act" (S3080) and if you really believe what you preach, then now is your chance to prove it by contacting your congressional representatives and asking them to support this bill.

There are numerous studies which clearly indicate that here in America, we spend $3.00 on corporate welfare for every dollar we spend on social welfare. So, if welfare is the "big" problem, then why not start with the area of welfare where we spend the most supporting those who need it the least?

www.huffingtonpost.com...

At a time when we have more than $15 trillion national debt, American taxpayers are set to give away over $110 billion dollars to the oil, gas, and coal industries over the next decade. Clearly, we cannot afford it. When the five largest oil companies made over $1 trillion in profits in the last decade, with some paying no federal income taxes for part of that time, they certainly do not need it.

It is important that the American people understand just how egregious these fossil fuel handouts are:

A Tax Deduction for an Oil Spill? -- We all remember the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. What is less well known is that BP is claiming a 9.9 billion tax deduction on the money they had to spend cleaning up their own mess and paying for damages they caused. That is absurd.
They Manufacture What? -- Coal and oil lobbyists added fossil fuels to a bill aimed at helping American manufacturers, so they too could claim 'manufacturing' tax deductions. The added cost for taxpayers:12 billion over the next ten years.
Good Enough for Big Oil, but not Clean Energy -- Most of us have not heard about Master Limited Partnerships. These special financing arrangements allow oil and gas investors to avoid paying certain corporate income taxes, but are not available to clean energy businesses. Ending this fossil fuel loophole not only starts to level the playing field for clean energy investment, it saves the government an estimated 2.4 billion over the next decade.
Free Federal Oil and Gas Leases? -- Fossil fuel corporations are supposed to pay the government fair market royalties in exchange for the right to drill on public lands or in federal waters. But thanks to a loophole in federal law, some oil and gas corporations drilling in the Gulf of Mexico pay zero in royalties. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office estimated this could cost taxpayers up to53 billion over the life of these loophole leases.

www.thenation.com...

Currently, the fossil fuel industry is generously subsidized despite the fact that it’s already the most profitable business on earth! (During the first quarter of 2012, the Big Five oil companies earned a combined $33.5 billion, or $368 million per day.) It’s as if the industry is being awarded a bonus for wrecking the environment. Fossil fuels are subsidized at nearly six times the rate of renewable energy. From 2002 to 2008, the US government gave the mature fossil fuel industry over $72 billion in subsidies, while investments in the emerging renewable industry totaled $12.2 billion.

A deeper explanation of the proposed cuts can be found here;
www.climatesciencewatch.org...

While I realize that there was a time when America needed to spur development of these fuels in order to power our industrial revolution, these fossil fuel industries have grown to become the most profitable in the world and they no longer need that assistance. I always thought that the idea behind welfare was to provide temporary assistance to those in need with the end goal being to restore those recipients back to productivity and self reliance. Was I wrong? If not, then it's high time to wean the oil, coal & gas industries off the government teat. What say you, ATS?

I think it's time to force laws that force energy companies to become non-profit organizations with extreme oversight by the people.Not that that would ever happen, but the base necessities in life should not be something one can profit off of in my opinion. It sure would lower the cost of our energy though. I will be writing the appropriate officials about this. Thank you for posting it here and giving it more attention.

Man... I swear Keith Ellison gets cooler by the minute. I live in MN, and at the beginning... there were SO MANY haters. I am everything but liberal as it seems, according to others definitions... yet I somehow agree with most of what this man says.

Just to add some fuel to the fire... he is Sunni! So much for all of Islam trying to kill everyone.

What yall know about the Minnesota Farmer -Labor Part?

As to the "End Polluter Welfare Act", at face value and considering the core concepts of it... I couldn't agree more. Although, much more reading into the specifics of it is surely warranted before agreeing with it.

It's disgusting to think that there are subsidized anything that has to do with energy. You wanna talk about creating a bubble or manipulation of the markets, that if collapsed would destroy our economies.

How are we supposed to even pretend to know and accept any given value of a company, it's products, and services... when it has been manipulated by government intervention. We can't, they will never reflect any reality or truths that capitalism may reveal about such things. Eliminate(to a certain extent, keep things like SEC and such) the role of government in economies, let the people decide...

Ellison also "In response to a question, I stated that the Bush Administration exploited post-9/11 fears to advance a policy agenda that has undermined our civil liberties. I stand by this statement."

GET EM!

Originally posted by usmc0311
I think it's time to force laws that force energy companies to become non-profit organizations with extreme oversight by the people.Not that that would ever happen, but the base necessities in life should not be something one can profit off of in my opinion. It sure would lower the cost of our energy though. I will be writing the appropriate officials about this. Thank you for posting it here and giving it more attention.

While I couldn't agree with you more, many would call us socialists for harboring those views. Or even worse, some would send an army to kill you and/or conquer your nation in order to prevent that very thing from happening, as was the case with Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Not to mention some of the covert activities intended to overthrow those who would institute such ideas as is the case with Hugo Chavez.

I'm convinced that the very same entities who are receiving these subsidies are the same ones dragging us into these wars for control of fossil fuels in order to sustain their energy empires. In reality, we also subsidize their empires with the lives of our sons and daughters in foreign wars as well.

These are TPTB that we keep talking about, who currently hold the real power over our government and IMO, it's time to defund their script for an endless supply of American tax dollars and remove their political influence over our legislators and Bernie Sanders is the guy to get it done. He's also proposing a constitutional amendment to reverse the "Citizen's United" supreme court decision.

www.elephantjournal.com... -corporation-is-not-a-person/

reply to post by MESSAGEFROMTHESTARS


I couldn't agree more, Keith Ellison is an awesome Representative and I'm glad to have him on our side, Sunni or not. We need more like him if we ever expect to change the course we're currently on.

Keith Ellison is a muslim engaged in Jihad. He should be deported along with all the other muslims residing on American soil. He is a piece of crap.

Awe, I thought you meant like the generations of people who have figured out how to manipulate the welfare system, using our tax dollars and getting a free ride

Oil companies should have the same rules as other businesses plain and simple

Since when is a tax break, giving money away? The only way that this statement works is if you believe that the government has a right to all of everybody's money and gets to decide how much we are allowed to keep.

The heck with it. You can all go back to reading your Little Red Book now.

Originally posted by mike_trivisonno
Keith Ellison is a muslim engaged in Jihad. He should be deported along with all the other muslims residing on American soil. He is a piece of crap.

hahaha, that's pretty much the exact same thing everyone else was saying about Ellison, nice to see that it has not gone away.

"Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories
concerning the attacks of September the 11th;
malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away
from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty."
~ Bush


"Let you never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories
concerning the Muslims of today;
malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away
from the actual terrorists, individuals, away from the guilty."
~ Stars

and since I'm on the quote page...

The Bush administration and Congressional Republicans have failed to bring up comprehensive energy reform or any piece of legislation for that matter that would lower gas prices, opting instead to give massive subsidies to the oil and gas industry.
Rosa DeLauro

Read more at www.brainyquote.com...

nothing to see there, move along...

Is there any reason to be concerned about removing fossil fuel subsidies? Calls for subsidy removal tend to be answered by the oil industry and their allies with dire predictions of falling domestic production, loss of jobs, and rising gas prices. But the reality is that removing fossil fuel subsidies (which the industry deceptively calls new taxes) will have little to no impact on domestic production, jobs, or prices at the pump.

According to the Treasury Department, removing the domestic subsidies as proposed in the President’s budget would reduce U.S. oil production less than one half of one percent, and will increase exploration and production costs less than two percent. Considering the price that the domestic industry receives for crude has more than doubled over the past several years, the industry can afford that – without laying anyone off or jacking up the price at the pump.

priceofoil.org...

Separate Oil & State
Send emails to your representatives. Our government should not be under the influence of Big Oil.

The greatest barriers to clean energy are political, not technical—and these barriers are largely fueled by the oil industry. We know that in order to achieve a clean energy future, we have to expose and eradicate the political influence of the oil industry; we have to achieve a separation of oil & state.

priceofoil.org...

This site is spot on...

One of the best explanations we have found for why we need a Separation of Oil & State comes from Dr. Robert Engler in his seminal 1961 work, The Politics of Oil

“The petroleum industry has harnessed public law, governmental machinery, and opinion to ends that directly challenge public rule. In the name of prosperity and technology, the industry has been able to destroy competition and limit abundance. In the name of national interest it has received privileges beyond those accorded to other industries. In the name of national security, oil has influenced and profited from a foreign policy that has supported the chauvinism of a few rather than generosity to the aspirations of the many in underdeveloped areas. In the name of private enterprise, it has contributed to the attenuation of vital portions of democratic life, from education to civic morality. In the name of the right of representation, it has so entrenched itself within the political processes that it becomes impossible to distinguish public from private actions. In the name of freedom, the oil industry has received substantial immunity from public accountability.”

priceofoil.org...