Congress has a choice as they debate yet another budget showdown. Let's help them make the right choice. End billions in wasteful taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil. Protect vital programs that millions of people rely on like education, health care and social insurance instead.
Congress blew a huge chance to cut these wasteful subsidies when it missed the March 1st deadline, and instead allowed the sequester cuts to happen.
But the sequester deadline isn't the end of the story. Congress and the President are essentially starting over from scratch, and so far the Senate is the only chamber that hasn't moved to consider cutting oil subsidies this year.
Sign our joint petition with Environmental Action, urging Senate Majority leader Harry Reid to include ending the wasteful oil subsidies in any budget deal that comes before the Senate.
Subsidizing the oil industry is like giving Bill Gates a free computer (well, maybe more like giving him a few million free computers). The oil industry profited more than $100 billion last year, making it the most lucrative industry on the planet, but Republicans fight to keep taxpayer handouts to Big Oil.
Almost all Senate Democrats support cutting Big Oil's subsidies.1 President Obama has made it clear that ending oil subsidies is one of his priorities, and the House Democrats included it in their plan.2 With official negotiations underway, we just need Reid to get on board and we can end these wasteful subsidies this year.3
We can stop the government from paying Big Oil, but to do it, we will need to keep the pressure on. This is the key month because if Reid doesn't act by March 27th, the whole government could shut down. We need to make sure whatever action he takes to avoid an economic disaster includes ending wasteful oil subsidies.
We’ve already sent over 30,000 emails to Congress demanding a better budget deal last week, along with over 100,000 USAction members in support of pulling the pork from the Pentagon. Now we’re targeting Big Oil and the billions they receive in subsidies every year.
We've been working on ending Big Oil subsidies for years, and now we have a real opportunity to solve it together.
Already, over 45K people have taken action. Help us reach 50K. Sign our petition today to tell Sen. Harry Reid to end the Big Oil Billion Dollar Boondoggle now.
Sources
1 - "In 51-47 vote, Senate Republicans protect big oil subsidies as gasoline profits soar," Think Progress, March 23, 2012
2 - "What both sides have offered to avoid the sequester," The New York Times, Feb. 28, 2013
3 - "Sequester: Obama, lawmakers talk as deep cuts loom," The Chicago Tribune, March 1, 2013