Hello friends,
In these days before Christmas and my preparation of a 'Grand Christmas Post' I will post an abridged response I received from Senator Cantwell in response to the following email:
S.940 Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act
I am writing as your constituent in the 6th Congressional district of Washington. I support S.940 - Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.
This will be my second correspondence concerning this Act and wondering out loud when we will see some legislation restricting the flow of our tax dollars to countries that do not deserve it. I am not in the habit of being "buddy buddy" with anyone, especially if they hate me, as an American. Good example is Pakistan. Sure...we give them a lot of money and they stem the flow of insurgents from Pakistan to Afghanistan...your'e kidding...right?
I do appreciate that my Senators voted 'Aye' on this Act during it's first failed attempt at passage. If you could forward this to the Republicans and let them know if it fails again, they will not need to run for office for an additional term. Any Senator that votes 'Nay' on this or any related bill obviously has their hand in the pocket of big business and oil.
On a related subject ( roughly ). The Occupy Protesters are against the 1% ( millionaires ). Can a Congress that is nearly 50% ( millionaires ) truly represent the average American? I truly hope, if any, you all respond to this email via opencongress.org.
Sincerely,
Trevor Dodge
Notice the highlighted area? I threw them a bone....being nice to them. Here is the response I got..it's lengthy so I will highlight certain parts and add commentary where appropriate.
Dear Mr. Dodge, Nice opening.
Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding tax breaks for
oil companies. I appreciate hearing from you, and regret the delayed
response.
The oil and gas industry has a long history of receiving tax incentives
from the federal government. Dating back to the early 1900s, these tax So now I get lectured on oil history?
breaks were designed to foster a fledgling domestic industry. Since that I had to fix 'fledgling' was missing the D
time, the U.S. oil and gas industry has grown tremendously, and is now a
mature and immensely profitable industry that does not warrant continued
taxpayer subsidies. Over the last decade, the five largest oil
companies; ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Shell, have made
over a trillion dollars in profits.
* That's a boatload of money.
Since being elected to the Senate, I have worked to shift outdated
subsidies away from mature industries like oil and gas companies, and
invest those dollars to accelerate America's transition to a cleaner and
more diversified energy system. While I recognize that these budget
proposals face opposition from those with vested interests in the oil
and gas industry, I believe these are necessary measures that will help
reduce the federal budget deficit and move our nation towards a safer
and more secure energy future.
To that end, I spearheaded the negotiations that ended a nearly year and
a half Congressional stalemate, allowing an important $17 billion clean
energy tax package, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008
(H.R. 6049), to pass the Senate by a vote of 93 to 2. It was signed
into law on October 3, 2008. H.R. 6049 marked the first time Congress
voted to take embedded subsidies away from the mature and wildly
profitable oil and gas industry and reorient our tax code to accelerate
America's urgently needed transition to a cleaner and more renewable
energy system. These new tax incentives will accelerate our transition
to a clean energy system by extending, for example, the production
credit for electricity produced from renewables like wind, biomass, and
incremental hydropower, and the investment tax credit to unleash the
power of solar energy. The new law also provides up to $7,500 to
consumers who purchase plug-in electric cars, trucks or SUVs, makes our
electricity grid more intelligent, helps homeowners generate their own
electricity and hot water, and allows Washingtonians to decrease their
energy bills and earn up to $500 in tax deductions if they install
energy efficient products in their homes. Please be assured that I will
keep your thoughts in mind as I continue working with my colleagues to
further develop balanced and sustainable solutions to our nation's
long-term energy needs.
Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter.
You may also be interested in signing up for periodic updates for
Washington State residents. If you are interested in subscribing to
this update, please visit my website at http://cantwell.senate.gov
. Please do not hesitate to contact me in
the future if I can be of further assistance.
Nothing else was worthy of highlighting or commenting on...but notice that there was no mention or response to any actual point I made in my email. I am not surprised...these 'canned' responses are the only responses returned to voters and obviously, I am not hearing what I want to hear. I will no longer be using opencongress.org to email the worthless politicians in my state....and since the Senators haven't answered one email that I sent to their personal email link, you can rejoice that I likely will not post something like this again.
Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator
For future correspondence with my office, please visit my website at
http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.html
Have a great day and be on the lookout for the Supercalifragilistic Christmas Special in the next day or two.
Trevor
