[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9719-9720]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             TAX LOOPHOLES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, in their agitation over the debt, our 
Republican friends have obstinately focused on program cuts alone, 
ignoring the harm to American families and the economic recovery. Their 
mindless slashing of the budget is costing jobs, while damaging 
communities. Yesterday's news about EPA cuts hurting local efforts at 
clean air and clean water is another example.
  More than a quarter of the deficit growth since 2001 resulted from 
the economic downturn which reduced tax revenues and increased 
programmatic spending. You spend more on unemployment when more people 
are unemployed.
  Our focus should be on job creation, which reduces unemployment costs 
and increases tax revenue. However, in their first 6 months in the 
majority, the Republicans have not passed any legislation to create 
jobs.
  The government's budget is often compared to a household budget, but 
every family knows that expenses are just one side of the equation. How 
many Americans, in tough times, take on second or even third jobs to 
increase their income because some expenses just can't be cut?
  As a Nation, we have the ability to increase our revenues, our 
income. An obvious place to look for additional income is closing tax 
loopholes and ending unnecessary subsidies, for example, for large oil 
companies would be one of the best places to start.
  Tax incentives are intended to help businesses create vital American 
jobs or develop technologies to improve our way of life. We as 
Democrats support those tax incentives that increase domestic 
manufacturing and other American businesses which create jobs and aid 
the economic recovery. These tax breaks promote our national economic 
priorities and put people back to work.
  But when a company's profits are $10.65 billion in just 3 months, 
such as ExxonMobil's were earlier this year, who can reasonably argue 
that that company needs expensive incentives to stay in business and 
make money?
  The 10 most egregious tax loopholes enjoyed by the large oil 
companies have helped the five largest companies make a combined profit 
of nearly $1 trillion over the last decade.
  The billions we spend every year on subsidies for the largest oil and 
gas companies are not moving us any closer to energy independence or a 
clean energy economy. The subsidies are not necessary and they're not 
useful for our economy.
  In 2010, nearly 60 percent of big oil companies' profits went to 
stock buybacks and dividends, not job creation. With oil produced at 
$11 a barrel, and sold for $100, tax breaks for oil companies are 
simply wasteful handouts, transferring money from working families to 
corporate stockholders. The difference over what was sold for an 
average barrel of oil, $72 average production price; average production 
cost, $11.
  No American family should be giving up their dinner to donate money 
to the millionaire next door. Removing these tax incentives will save 
taxpayers $40 billion over the next 5 years with only

[[Page 9720]]

minimal impact in the profit, not in their operations. Cutting 
subsidies will not raise oil prices, which are set in a global market 
that this year will be in the range of $2 trillion to $3 trillion.
  Subsidies in the Tax Code, instead, should be directed toward 
emerging technologies like wind and solar. That's where the real jobs 
are. A University of Massachusetts study found that incentives for 
clean energy create two to four times more direct and indirect jobs 
compared to investments in oil and gas production.
  Another obvious place to cut is the ethanol tax credit. We don't need 
to subsidize something that industry is mandated to buy.
  We cannot ask children and seniors to bear the brunt of sacrifice 
while we are simply giving more money to large corporate interests that 
don't need it. We must make tough choices to ensure we leave a sound 
economy to the next generation, but we have to make those choices 
wisely so we leave a Nation that is competitive, prosperous, healthy, 
and educated.

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