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John Boehner: Oil
companies should pay their ‘fair share’
ABC Report from Politico...
By Darren
Goode
See also Politico and County News Online reports
House Speaker John Boehner says he’s open to calls from the White House
to curb some of the $4 billion in oil and gas subsidies and tax
incentives, as Washington continues to feel the heat over high gas
prices.
Oil and gas producers are “gonna pay their fair share in taxes and they
should,” Boehner told ABC News.
“I don’t think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion
allowances. But for small, independent oil and gas producers — if they
didn’t have this — there’d be even less exploration in America than
there is today.”
President Barack Obama is pushing for cutting $4 billion in oil and gas
industry tax incentives to pay for green and renewable energy projects.
“I wanna see the facts. I don’t wanna hear a bunch of political
rhetoric,” Boehner said, adding he wants to “look at the facts. And
what will it do to have — its impact on jobs.”
Boehner’s comments come amid not only record high gas prices but also
big first quarter earnings major oil companies are expected to report
later this week, at least compared with the dour situation for the
industry and the overall economy during the first quarter of last year.
Boehner’s laurel of sorts is not guaranteed to bring about any
particular concession on the part of Republicans to reduce some of the
subsidies Obama and Democrats are trying to carve out.
“Listen, everybody … wants to go after the oil companies. And frankly,
they’ve got some part of this to blame,” he said.
The oil industry has largely countered that the federal subsidies are a
win for the economy and for jobs overall.
“This is a tired old argument we’ve been hearing for two years now,”
said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute.
“The federal government by no stretch of the imagination subsidizes the
oil industry. The oil industry subsidizes the federal government at a
rate of $95 million a day.”
Boehner also criticized Obama for not allowing more domestic oil and
gas production and backing EPA climate change regulations affecting
petroleum refineries as others.
“He’s not doing anything to make the situation better,” Boehner said.
“If we begin to allow more permits for oil and gas production, it would
send a signal to the [marketplace] that America’s serious about moving
toward energy independence. That signal, in and of itself, would calm
these prices down quite a bit,” the speaker added.
House Republicans are planning floor votes on energy bills starting in
May as part of their effort to ratchet up the debate over gas prices
heading into the summer driving season.
“We’re gonna have bills coming out of the Congress here next month.
We’re gonna send ‘em to the Senate,” Boehner said. “Let’s see if the
Senate — if they pass ‘em, whether the president will sign ‘em.”
The first bill is expected to be one from House Natural Resources
Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) that would expedite the approval of
drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Obama administration has stepped up its issuance of drilling
permits in the Gulf after months of inaction following the historic
spill there last year. Permits started being issued after industry
coalitions came up with new well capping tools that would help
companies meet new offshore safety and environmental standards handed
down by the Interior Department last September, following an official
five-month federal deepwater drilling ban.
Read it with a video at Politico
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