Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks

By Associated Press
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 12:58 EST
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says it’s time to roll back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development.

Obama made the comments Wednesday in prepared remarks for a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

He said the catastrophic Gulf oil spill shows the country must move toward clean energy by embracing energy efficiency, tapping natural gas and nuclear power and eliminating tax breaks for big oil.

Obama said that the Gulf spill “may prove to be a result of human error – or corporations taking dangerous shortcuts that compromised safety” – but that deepwater drilling is inherently risky and America cannot rely solely on fossil fuels.

He also vowed to make a new bid to push energy legislation through Congress, saying the US oil “catastrophe” showed America could no longer be hostage to fossil fuels.

Obama signaled a political effort to pivot from the disastrous impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to future climate change and energy policy, in an advance copy of remarks he was due to deliver in Pittsburgh later in the day.

“The only way the transition to clean energy will succeed is if the private sector is fully invested in this future — if capital comes off the sidelines and the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs is unleashed,” he said.

“The only way to do that is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution,” Obama said, noting that the House of Representatives had already passed a climate change bill, which had become stalled in the Senate.

“The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months,” said Obama, who is increasingly under political siege over his handling of the BP oil spill.

“I will make the case for a clean energy future wherever I can, and I will work with anyone from either party to get this done.

“We will get this done. The next generation will not be held hostage to energy sources from the last century.”

Prospects for the energy bill in the Senate remain uncertain, following the collapse of a bipartisan effort to pilot it through the chamber in the run-up to crucial mid-term elections in November.

Some experts question whether the year-long battle to enact health care reform drained the kind of political capital Obama will need to get the bill through the Senate in a highly polarized political environment.

With AFP.

Associated Press
Associated Press
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  • http://topsy.com/trackback?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2&url=http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/obama-seeks-rollback-big-oil-tax-breaks/ Tweets that mention Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks | Raw Story — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rob, Terry Canaan, Catherine Bassett, Mr. Bitterness, • Renée • and others. • Renée • said: RT @Wisco: Obama makes common sense suggestion; right to freak the fuck out any second now http://is.gd/czScS #p2 #tcot #SpillBabySpill [...]

  • GG

    Why don't you just focus on the the spill for now Prez

  • michaelvalentine

    Because it has to be paid for silly.

  • jimbeaux

    “Why don't you just focus on the the spill for now Prez “

    another case of neoCON Myopia

  • lm945

    Some people are actually capable of doing more than one thing at a time.

  • Corporate Indu$trial Complex

    .
    30 YEARS LATER, OBAMA PROPOSES TAKING JIMMY CARTER'S ADVICE — CONGRESS TO NULLIFY
    .

  • ma77hew

    It makes no sense what so ever to give the biggest most profitable corporations in the history of the world any breaks let alone a tax break not even speaking of the wars they have waged the lives they have murdered and destruction of our only home.

  • thelonegunman

    'Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks'

    um… they're making record profits year after year after year… and the US gummint is providing them with TAX BREAKS!?!?!?! when we're running deficits and Dims and Repugs both are cutting unemployment and COBRA and other services because they don't have enough money coming in?!?!?!?

    SO WE'RE GIVING MONEY AWAY TO VERRRRRRRRRY PROFITABLE CORPORATIONS!?!?!?!?!?!

  • thelonegunman

    'Obama calls for rollback of big oil tax breaks'

    um… they're making record profits year after year after year… and the US gummint is providing them with TAX BREAKS!?!?!?! when we're running deficits and Dims and Repugs both are cutting unemployment and COBRA and other services because they don't have enough money coming in?!?!?!?

    SO WE'RE GIVING MONEY AWAY TO VERRRRRRRRRY PROFITABLE CORPORATIONS!?!?!?!?!?!

  • Dorttrod

    When Obama says it's time: That actually means it will never happen. He is such a bold face liar. I can't believe I supported him once. Once!

  • chabuka

    The Party of NO….won't stand for it….! And neither will the moderate/Corporate Dem's….Nelson, Landrieau, Lieberman, the usual suspects…will fight to the bloody end to stop any cuts in (taxpayer)subsidies or tax breaks for the Oil Corporations…hell..any Corporate welfare programs must stay intact! (CUT the poor's food stamp's or the old people's social security and medicare, or student pell grants, or unemployment insurance, workers minimum wages, military benefits, anything..but NOT the Corporate welfare programs!!)…let the taxpayers pull themselves up by their own boot straps..but leave the poor Corporations (“small” is GOP code for Corporations) business owners alone…!

  • chabuka

    Spoken like a true “one thought at a time” conservative….now is not the time to try and prevent any future disasters, or to punish those who created this one…..you would think there is only one person in Government…good thing we have more than one soldier who can do the job, huh…?

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/YVBA25ZZJYN5C44WGILY6P4X34 Raven

    Actions not words Barry.

  • reyrey

    “Obama says”….ha ha ha ha ha

    You mean today or tomorrow.

  • yaright

    He better start going all Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt and stop this pussyfooting nonsense and start kicking ass and taking names or the repugthugs will retake congress…..

    THE LAST FUCKING THING WE NEED

    START PRESIDENTIN
    N
    O
    W

  • enorceht

    it not only the politicians it's also because there aren't any food stamp lobbyists, minimum wage workers lobbyists, military benefits lobbyists, but yes there are lobbyists for big business (oil, etc.), wall street, healthcare, and money talks.

  • Satan

    Billions huh, he's not being specific so he must mean 2 billion. If you're politicians aren't talking specifics, they're lying, it's that simple. The U.S. military will spend more than that on fuel in the next few months.

  • Yeah, Right

    Obama can't go all Ted and FDR, because he doesn't have the interests of the people in mind. He's a corporatist, through and through. He was a corporate attorney for crying out loud. And that was before he became a politician. Ugh.

    The GOP will definitely retake congress. It's just a matter of time. Then the DEMs will take it back. And round and round she goes. That's how the system works. And the American sheeple careen back and forth between the two criminal parties like a bum stumbling down the street between lamp posts.

  • Yeah, Right

    Two billion is the interest accrued on the national debt in a single day.

  • Ralph

    About time ASSHOLE. You should also roll back the Reagan, Bush, Bush tax breaks as well. Then impose a tariff on the so-called American Corporations that have their products produced in shit hole countries like China.

    And, any American corporation with its headquarters off shore should be tried for Treason, as should its administrative team and share holders. Skirting paying taxes by these pukes has got to stop.

  • enorceht

    wanted to add this to my comment

    here's an article that sums it up:

    “BP's Lobbying Clout: 27 Former Hill, White House Staffers Working For Oil Giant”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/bps-lo…

  • mindboggeling

    Obama absolutely should rollback those damn tax breaks. The bush friends and families have had enough tax breaks to the detriment of the country and the middle class. Next put the criminal investigation into high gear and charge and arrest the damn CEO's of all the companies involved. Then go after the bankers responsible for the near demise of this country. Then go after the war profiteers! Pricks who are making money off the death and destruction in both wars. When all of the actors are rounded up and convicted make sure they do their hard time in a state prison, not a federal country club! If any of this takes place [doubtful] appoint a special prosecutor to investigate [shouldn't take very long with all the evidence out there] and arrest all the criminals in the bush/cheney white house. Then maybe our country can start to heal and make amends for the unthinking foolishness and total disregard for the American people and the people around the world who have been harmed by the bush adm. Free enterprise is great as long as there are regulations to go along with it. Because obviously the rich are blinded by their own greed and cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/FZTCSW3ROOZH6M567RKPDFVRAY Donald

    Obama talks Left but serves the Right “Corporate America”. He campaigned on the Left before being elected; but, after being elected he threw his Liberal campaign team under the bus.

    He brought in, the former captains of Wall Street, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers and kept the hold over Ben Bernanke. Obama's effort has been to perpetuate the policies of George W. Bush.
    Whether its the Wall Street Banksters or the Private Healthcare Cartel Obama aims to please. And, he has!
    Obama is a false flag president. Like Ron Paul told Republicans months ago, Obama is NOT a socialist! Obama is corporatist!

    With Obama and the bipartisan congress obligated to big oil, due to campaign contributions, there is no way tax breaks will be rolled back.
    In fact the bipartisan congress refused to raise the liability cap from a measly $75 million to $10 Billion dollars.
    With the cap standing, BP will probably come back in a couple of years and sue the government for the balance of money they were out above the $75 million dollars. Taxpayers stuck with the bill again.

    Obama is just doing the lean to Left before pulling back to the Right, sometime in the advantageous future. Besides, he may pick up some votes; since, everyone knows that the Republicans will never go against big oil.

  • fluminense

    This is from the site warincontext.org today.

    I find RawStroy already moving away fromt his subject which is NOT going to go away!

    I hope the American People rise and demand Obama to condem Israel's War Crimes NOW! Not tomorrow! Now!

    From warincontext.org

    “Israel’s war against non-violence
    by Paul Woodward on June 2, 2010

    Today, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, praising the Shayetet 13 commandos who slaughtered at least nine humanitarian activists on board the Mavi Marmara, said:

    “…we live in the Middle East, in a place where there is no mercy for the weak…”

    A year ago President Obama declared in Cairo:

    Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It’s a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end.

    But if the violence is being committed by Israelis then it is all too evident that this particular world leader lacks the courage and moral conviction to speak out.

    When the slaves of Zionism are called on to break out of their chains, instead, their own fear of political and financial retribution guarantees that they will maintain their silence.

    Obama is not only incapable of condemning Israeli violence; he cannot even acknowledge its existence!”

    The best site covering CHANGE you can believe in!

  • KWilliams

    Ironic, isn't it, that Obama and the Dem Congress won't take any Liberal stands, or pass liberal bills because they are SCARED the Banks & Oil Companies wont fund them in the next election!

    When, if they DID pass a comprehensive stimulus bill that works, HALT any efforts to reduce Social Security & Medicare; repeal the “anti-trust EXEMPTION for insurance cos, pass not *only* unemployment extensions, but revamp unemployment so those on it received health care and food stamps; AND if they repeal a whole slew of unfair 'tax breaks' for the Rich, THAT would pretty much guarantee them winning the upcoming elections, and elections for the next generation or so: JUST as it worked for the Democratic Pols who passed the NewDeal.

    SURELY they must know that; and if they DO know that passing liberal legislation (no matter how much Fox & It's drooling followers howl) would guarantee them life-long political power: WHY are they so obedient to Corporate manipulation?

  • donofcali

    The Roosevelt's fought against the Plutocracy. Obama, on the other hand, fights for them.

  • donofcali

    Words are all he's good for.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/FZTCSW3ROOZH6M567RKPDFVRAY Donald

    Well said! Our government is occupied and controlled by Goldman Sachs and the other Wall Street Banksters. Just take a background check on Obama's advisors and take a gander at the slide into the next great depression.
    The best action ordinary Americans can take is NOT to vote. The vote means nothing now days and is a fruitless effort. When the lobbyist leveraged, bipartisan, congress is elected on turn outs of 5%, then, the question is going to be asked, What went wrong with the American experiment with democracy?
    Answer: It failed! Why? The banksters who dealt the colonists so much misery were permitted later to come through the back door and gab power. A bloodless coup d' etat. Our shadow government.

    Just a loop hole that the founding fathers did not anticipate.
    So, now we are fraked!

  • yaright

    then he will be a one term president….. and he will lose my vote.

  • Corporate Indu$trial Complex

    .
    OBAMA: GUTTED CLIMATE BILL AS IMPORTANT FOR RE-ELECTION AS GUTTED HEALTH BILL
    .

  • sonny

    At last.

  • sonny

    At last.

  • KWillow

    Oh, wonderful. Another great speech. I'm so excited.

  • KWillow

    Oh, AbsoLUTEly! But Obama ain't one of them. And his focus on the “one thing” is pretty blurry.

  • KWillow

    Oh, AbsoLUTEly! But Obama ain't one of them. And his focus on the “one thing” is pretty blurry.

  • KWillow

    I'm waiting for Obama to roll back the tax breaks, and increase taxes on ALL corporations, especially Oil Cos, and Wall Street. And anyone making more than 10 million a year should be taxed at the 80% rate. At least.

  • Thomas G Williams

    If the drive to do this is real then sometime in the next 2-3 weeks the President will go on National TV, and make the case for it to the American people, that is where can make the DIRECT APPEAL to the people to send the GOP a message right away (ala Reagan) to Stop the Obstruction of Americas Recovery, that the games must end and that ALL CANIDATES should return any donations from OIL COMPANIES made since the gulf oil crises began.

    Doing that will shove a red hot poker up RETHUGS oil pipes.

  • Patriot101

    Drill Here Drill Now! Drill Baby Drill! The GOBPers have not screwed up Anwar yet!

  • Thomas G Williams

    Its republicans who cant do more than one thing at a time, ITS TIME TO GO AFTER THE GOP ON OBSTRUCTION ISSUES AND THE ENTIRE ENERGY TAX BREAK CRIME CODE OF CORPORATIONS.

    JIMBEAUX its up to you now to end the neocon Myopia get a magnifyng glass and focus it on the NEO RETHUGS so they can see the light, we can all here them screaming “IT BURNS IT BURNS” already, just make it a reality.

  • DesertSun59

    Obama said that the Gulf spill “may prove to be a result of human error – or corporations taking dangerous shortcuts that compromised safety” – but that deepwater drilling is inherently risky and America cannot rely solely on fossil fuels.

    NO. We know precisely what caused this blowout. The seal was ruptured, it came up with the mud, and there was no possible way the BOP would have worked. And, Mr. President, we already know who the culprits were that said damn the torpedoes.

    Regardless, it's about friggin' time we used that money for green energy projects. If this disaster doesn't put a fire under people's butts about it, NOTHING will.

  • DesertSun59

    Obama was not a corporate attorney. Obama was a CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY.

  • DesertSun59

    I laugh at that assertion.

    No. Obama doesn't talk left. He never has.

    He talks centrist and walks centrist. He campaigned that way, too.

  • Pennsylvanianne

    Well, not if he indeed pursues rolling back these big oil tax breaks and clean energy research, both of which fly in the face of the plutocracy. This is a teachable moment. In no other time in history will Americans be convinced we need to wean ourselves from the great poison, oil.

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