House votes to revoke tax breaks for Big Oil

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - The House of Representatives voted to take back billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil and gas companies, and channel the funds instead into alternative energy investments.

By 264 to 163, the House voted to shift some 14 billion dollars from the fossil fuel industry into a fund for alternative and renewable energies.

The legislation reverses one of the most generous perks doled out to big industry during the dozen years of Republican rule in Congress.

The bill, was the sixth and final initiative of the new Democratic leadership agenda for first 100 hours of the 110th Congress.

"At a time when oil companies are making record profits and American consumers are being tipped upside down at the pump we should not be giving massive subsidies and tax breaks to Big Oil," said Representative Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), a top Democrat on both the House Resources and Energy and Commerce committees.

Markey said the legislation, the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 would repeal "unnecessary and wasteful tax breaks" for big oil and gas companies.

"Today, we are going to repeal the most egregious of those unnecessary incentives and tax breaks to Big Oil. It is time for the oil companies to stop playing Uncle Sam for Uncle Sucker," he said.

The bill would create a Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reserve that would invest in clean, renewable energy sources and clean alternative fuels like ethanol, as well as energy efficiency and conservation.

In the Senate, two senior lawmakers -- Democrat Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) and Republican Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at breaking America's dependence on foreign oil through increased production of alcohol-based ethanol, tax incentives and other measures.

They said their bill, dubbed the The DRIVE Act would reduce US oil use by seven million barrels per day within 20 years -- more than twice the amount currently imported from the Middle East.

"Meeting our future energy needs is one of the great challenges of this generation, and one that will impact everything from our national security to our economy," Senator Bayh said Thursday.

Meanwhile, House speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) announced Thursday that Congress will have a new committee dedicated to issues related to energy independence and global warming.

Pelosi announced the creation of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, "to raise the visibility of these urgent issues and gather critical information to protect America's security."

"The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal. We already have many of the technology and techniques that we need to reduce global warming pollution, and American ingenuity will supply the rest," Pelosi said.

Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said the creation of the committee is part of a major legislative push on global warming issues, which she said were given short shrift during the dozen years that Republicans -- the party deemed friendlier to business and industry -- controled Congress.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070119/ts_afp/uscongressenergy [link]