Obama Says Oil Company Tax Breaks Must Be Rolled Back

[charlesg]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/obama-says-oil-company-tax-breaks-must-be-rolled-back-update1-.html

Obama Says Oil Company Tax Breaks Must Be Rolled Back (Update1)
By Kate Andersen Brower

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill should send an urgent signal to Congress to complete work on energy legislation, including rolling back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and fostering investments in alternatives to fossil fuels.

“The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be the result of human error -- or corporations taking dangerous short cuts that compromise safety,” Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery in Pittsburgh today. “But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth.”...

In his prepared remarks, Obama called for an ‘unprecedented effort” to develop clean energy and renewed his call for Congress to approve legislation imposing a cap and trade system that would place a ceiling on carbon emissions and let companies swap permits to release greenhouse gases... The president said he may lack the votes in the Senate to pass an energy bill, and then added: “But I intend to find them in the coming months.”

Obama also criticized Republicans for opposing his efforts to increase employment, improve health care and regulate Wall Street. Republicans believe government has “little or no role to play” in solving the nation’s economic problems, he said. The Republican agenda “basically offers two answers to every problem we face: more tax breaks for the wealthy and fewer rules for corporations.”

[jtrockville]

1. "The time has come to accelerate our transition... to a clean energy future"

WE'RE FIRED UP!
READY TO GO!