Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
There is a reason why we call John Yarmuth "Congressman Awesome" here in Kentucky. That is because our whole congressional delegation seems to be in the pocket of the 1% while caring little about the problems that have beset everyday Kentuckians and Americans. There only concern seems to be how they are going to make us pay even more for the recklessness that crashed our economy and how they are going to allow themselves and their cronies to steal even more from us.
Yarmuth however is a true public servant. He is more concerned with the problems that have beset working people in his district, state and country. Now, true to form with all of us suffering at the pump and Big Oil once again hanging up huge profits at our expense, John Yarmuth is fighting for us.
That is why he is introducing a bill to help working Americans at the expense of the greediest and least patriotic among us for once. He is proposing to end gas and oil subsidies now, and give the money back to average Americans who are being crushed by the greed of the 1%:
LOUISVILLE – Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) announced today that he will introduce legislation to finally end federal subsidies to oil companies and return the money to the American people through targeted gas rebates. The savings of nearly $40 billion will provide direct assistance to American drivers struggling with high gas prices through one-time payments of approximately $160 per registered vehicle – an average of $320 per Louisville family.
The oil industry is slated to receive about $38.6 billion in federal subsidies over the next 10 years, even as the nonpartisan Joint Economic Committee concluded the subsidies do not lower prices at the pump. Yarmuth’s bill, which he plans to introduce this week, would eliminate the subsidies entirely and immediately inject the full $38.6 billion into the U.S. economy. The economic impact for Kentucky alone would total more than $564 million.
The legislation instructs the Internal Revenue Service and the Secretary of the Treasury to work with states to oversee and distribute rebates to individuals and businesses for each vehicle they own or lease for longer than one year. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are approximately 242 million privately registered vehicles in the country. The $38.6 billion will be divided among those 242 million vehicles, resulting in rebates of approximately $160 per vehicle.
http://yarmuth.house.gov/...
He provided this chart to pound his point home:
Watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Of course sadly this bill has little chance of passing. That is because unlike Congressman Awesome, most "leaders" in both parties quite simply do not care one iota about any of us. They are too busy padding their own pockets by padding the pockets of the 1%.
It is time we fight for ourselves and fight for leaders who do the same. We are being sold down the river daily and the very few leaders that care about our plight are seeing their voices drowned out. We need to contact our representatives and let them know that if Congressman Yarmuth can fight for us they can too.
It only takes a little courage from a few real leaders to change this country for the better once more. Thanks to Congressman Yarmuth for at least trying.