[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 64 (Thursday, April 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E386-E387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM BIG OIL PRICE GOUGING

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                             HON. RO KHANNA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2022

  Mr. KHANNA. Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following 
letter from Professor Andru Volinsky, on behalf of students in the 
Sociology Law and Public course at Franklin Pierce University in New 
Hampshire. These students highlight why Congress should pass the Big 
Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, my bill with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, 
to protect consumers from price gouging from giant oil companies.

[[Page E387]]

  


                    Stop Subsidies to Oil Companies

       The American people are being hosed at the pump. It's time 
     to end oil subsidies that benefit shareholders and invest in 
     green energy that benefits America's young people. Like other 
     low-income Americans, we college students are financially 
     struggling to fill our gas tanks with the recent 55.4% 
     increase in fuel prices reported by the American Automobile 
     Association.
       Meanwhile, CNBC reported the price per barrel decreased by 
     8%. ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil saw profit 
     increases of 1,400%, 184% and 57%, respectively, last year 
     over pre-COVID profits. Price-gouging at the pump is 
     unacceptable for the most-profitable corporations and the 
     most heavily tax-subsidized industry in the United States.
       Conservative estimates put U.S. direct tax subsidies to the 
     fossil fuel industry at approximately $20 billion per year. 
     Exxon Mobil receives one of the largest tax subsidies ($4 
     billion a year) and has reported second-quarter earnings of 
     $44.9 billion for this fiscal year. Shareholders of Exxon 
     Mobil are filling their wallets while taxpayers are 
     struggling to fill their gas tanks.
       Fuel industry subsidies were created to lower the cost of 
     fossil fuel production and incentivize new domestic energy 
     sources, not increase the profits of shareholders. It's time 
     we end fuel industry tax subsidies and invest in new green 
     energy sources for the future. Demand an increase in solar 
     tax credits and incentives for mitigating climate change that 
     benefits the American people. It's time to free the American 
     people from their dependency on oil and invest in our future.
                                                   Andru Volinsky,
     Concord.

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