OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to Committee on Finance Chairman Charles Grassley

Date: April 27, 2006
Issues: Business and Consumers Oil and Gas Taxes


April 27, 2006

Senator Charles Grassley
Chairman
Committee on Finance
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Grassley:

We write to encourage you to insist that the conference agreement on the tax reconciliation bill include the Senate-passed provisions that eliminate unnecessary and unwarranted tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. On the very day President Bush and congressional Republicans made statements indicating they are going to take a tough line against oil companies recording record profits and paying huge salaries, news reports indicate congressional Republicans have decided to jettison these provisions. As Chairman of the Conference, we urge you to be true to these public statements and include these offsets in the final bill.

Consumers are paying more than $3.00 per gallon of gasoline, a 100% increase since 2001; there are rumored to be gasoline shortages in some areas on the East Coast due to poor oil company planning; and oil futures prices for June delivery have reached $75 a barrel. Diesel fuel has also more than doubled in price in the same time period, severely hampering the farm economy and the transportation industry.

At the same time that American consumers are suffering under these high gasoline prices, oil companies are reporting record-breaking profits and their executives are receiving multi-million dollar retirement packages. There is no reason to continue tax policies that provide further tax windfalls to these companies. The three provisions included in the Senate-passed bill would repeal tax breaks for these companies that total $5.4 billion over the next ten years.

We urge you to stand firm in support of the Senate-passed bill. That bill rightly recognized as unconscionable the continuation of billions of dollars in tax breaks for an industry that is recognizing record-breaking profits at the expense of American consumers.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid
Dick Durbin
Debbie Stabenow
Charles E. Schumer

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR133.Dems%20Gas.042706.html

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