Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich Defend Oil Companies Against Democrats

[sasha031]

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic attempt to take on the major oil companies is being challenged from within, with representatives of producing states rushing to the defense of the dirty-energy industry, complicating the plan to present a stark contrast between the two parties.

Sens. Mark Begich and Mary Landrieu, who represent Alaska and Louisiana, respectively, each took to the Senate floor Wednesday to decry their party's attempt to strip tax breaks from the top oil companies.

Landrieu bemoaned the "inherent unfairness" of closing the tax loophole, insisting that doing so "will not reduce gasoline prices by one penny.”

Begich chided the party for putting message over substance. "It is a gimmick, a gimmick to get the next week of activity, and get some press out there,” he said. “Picking on one industry because it sounds good, rates good in the polls, gets you a couple of headlines is not what the American people want us to do here. If anything, they're getting fed up with that. … Let’s stop the headline-grabbing and get serious about the energy security."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/mary-landrieu-mark-begich-oil_n_860743.html

[fascisthunter]

1. despicable

[Mimosa]

2. That's our Mary!

Oh, Mary. She's following in the energy corps financed footsteps of Senators J. Bennett Johnston and John Breaux.

In Louisiana there's not a whole lot of difference between Dems and Republicans.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I'm sure that this is all Obama's fault!

As these are the same Democrats he's always had to help him pass legislation....

[sasha031]

6. no one is saying this is the prez's fault

I wouldn't expect anything less from Landrieu.

[brentspeak]

4. Making the oil companies pay their fair share of taxes now equals "unfair"

Tell these two to change their party affiliation if they think the poor baby oil companies are being "picked on".

[Bandit]

13. It isn't even really about taxes, it is about subsidies

We GIVE the oil industry billions every year in subsidy.. They do not pay any taxes anyway and the oil industry is the most profitable industry on the face of the earth...EVER..And we are supposed to keep GIVING them more money.. Exxon alone last quarter made OVER one hundred and twenty million dollars a DAY..NET PROFIT.. after every single expense was paid...in the pocket money and yet they want MORE.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. See my post below

regarding my thoughts on Mark Begich. :puke:

[SalviaBlue]

5. That's what they get paid for.

[pacalo]

7. Both could use a reality check...

Exxon Made Record Profits in 2005

Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining.

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=1841989

[AlabamaLibrul]

8. Both could use a primary, or a party switch for truth in advertising. Fuck 'em. nt

[Hippo_Tron]

12. Begich has a very solidly Dem progressive voting record and you want to primary him over this?

The fact is that oil is huge business in Alaska and provides lots of jobs, and ending the tax breaks would negatively impact his constituents. The fact is that these people are elected by single states and they have to represent their state if they want to stay in office.

[AlabamaLibrul]

15. Sorry, I am currently a 100% coerced slave to oil. Not interested in hearing people defending them

They ruined this place.

[Hippo_Tron]

16. The people of Alaska are even more coerced than you are

What do you want Mark Begich to do about it? Cheer on a proposal that will result in his constituents losing their jobs?

[Leopolds Ghost]

20. Yeah, to be fair, Alaska's budget actually uses oil production to generate its annual tax dividends

For its citizens. Talk about being tied to cheap oil, and in a "socialist" manner. Although actually expensive oil would make money for Alaska, wouldn't it?

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Not necessarily true.

Please see my post below. More than half of the oil company employees in Alaska are from other states, mostly Texas and Oklahoma. What we get from the oil companies is revenue. Alaska is unique in that we the people own all the oil. We don't have individual mineral rights or anything like that. They have to deal with us, and they have to pay us. We don't need to cut them any slack to continue to get our revenue. There is so much oil up here, they're going to extract it no matter what.

It seems to me that the oil companies owe the American people quite a bit, not vice versa. We have made them extremely rich. They owe us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Landrieu's fifteen minutes are over.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hippo_Tron]

11. It's a political reality, same reason Russ Feingold, Al Franken, John Kerry, Amby Klobuchar...

Wrote a letter to Harry Reid telling him not to place tougher regulations on coal. Senators are elected by states and there are certain issues like this one where your state's economy is so heavily dependent that you absolutely have to represent your state or you won't stand a chance in hell in the next election.

FYI, Begich has a pretty solidly Dem voting record for a guy who represents a state that hasn't been won by a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964.

[DonCoquixote]

14. This is the same woman

that tried to cozy up to bernie sanders. I love bernie, but I wish he told her to go to hell, as she is very much the embodiment of the problem.

[eridani]

17. In other news, Patty Murray likes subsidies for hydropower--

--and Tom Harkin likes subsidies for ethanol. Senators are expected to carry water for their states' economic base, no matter how badly is sucks for the public good as a whole.

[gratuitous]

18. We can't feed, house, or educate our citizens

But we can hand out money to oil companies and failing to throw billions of dollars at oil companies is "inherently unfair." Got it. So all you starving, homeless, uneducated people can just go hang, ya bunch of freeloaders!

[Leopolds Ghost]

19. I got to sit in on a Clean-Energy meeting with Landrieu

She insisted, insisted that cutting back on oil wells drilled on the Gulf was not the answer to preventing the sinking of South Louisiana into the sea because Louisiana would remain dependent on fossil fuel production no matter how much of the nation used clean energy.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Mark is a huge disappointment when it comes to oil companies.

Like many politicians in Alaska, he thinks he has to cater to the Big Oil interests for the benefit of Alaskan jobs (even though about half of the oil company jobs in Alaska are held by people from the Lower 48) ... but they make a ton of money off of us, and I see no reason to give them any more breaks. Alaska OWNS the resource after all. We should be the ones calling the shots, not them. Alaska has the highest energy costs in the country, so they're doing us no favors.


The real Democrats in Alaska don't want to cut oil company taxes but are insisting that they pay their fair share to the state for the good of our people. We have a bipartisan coalition in our Senate that wants to spend our existing and future oil revenues on renewable energy projects for our far-flung communities, many of which are off any kind of grid or road system, and they have submitted a capital budget that includes millions of state money toward all sorts of renewable energy projects. Our oil toady governor has threatened to veto a bunch of these projects because the Senate wouldn't pass his bill to lower oil taxes. He wanted to give them back $2 BILLION A YEAR over the next five years. What a tool! We are one of the only states in the country with a surplus right now (and we don't pay any state income taxes, remember) and he wants to give it all back to them. It's sickening. ..... And Mark Begich is playing right into this idiocy.

Even if all the subsidies were removed and their taxes were raised, they'd still be drilling in Alaska. It's extremely profitable for them.

This is why we liked Sarah Palin back when she was governor -- at least she raised taxes on the oil companies (with the help of the Dems and some Republicans in the our legislature), and she didn't kiss their butts.

[JustAmused]

23. I agree

I lived in Fairbanks years ago, and met Nick many times. Let's just politely say that Mark isn't half the man.