Republicans Vote For Big Oil & Against Environment

As unpopular as their attempts to abolish Medicare and Medicaid and cut benefits for Social Security are, those are not the only things the Republicans are trying to do that the American public does not want. Recently, the House Republicans voted unanimously to continue the government subsidies (amounting to several billion dollars) for Big Oil -- even though these corporations continue to make record-breaking profits and no longer need those subsidies. They also voted to slash at least a third of the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- and many of them voted to abolish this agency altogether (to save money for corporations at the expense of the environment).

They may have though they had some kind of mandate to do these things after the last election, but they are wrong. Many recent polls have shown that the majority of Americans are opposed to continuing the subsidies (and other tax breaks) for Big Oil. They also support EPA efforts to insure the country has clean air and clean water.

This was made clear to many of the Republicans during their town hall meetings in the recent congressional break. In addition to catching a lot of flak from their constituents over abolishing Medicare, many people spoke out in these meetings demanding that the subsidies for Big Oil be discontinued and the corporations be made to pay their fair share of taxes (since it is known that some companies, like Exxon, are making record profits but paying no taxes). And much of this discontent is coming from Republican voters -- who are in favor of budget cuts but want them to be more fair.

Some of the House Republicans seemed to be listening to their constituents. They agreed with them that the subsidies for Big Oil must be eliminated. But it turns out they were just lying (because that was easier than telling the truth to their angry constituents). Last week the Democrats in the House tried to introduce a bill that would eliminate about $1.8 billion in oil subsidies for the giant corporations (which is only a fraction of the total subsidies these corporations receive).

What did the Republicans do? They voted unanimously to continue giving ALL of the current subsidies to Big Oil. They did this to protect their true constituency -- corporations. They may talk nice to voters at election time, but when it comes to votes in Congress the Republicans always vote for the corporations and against the interests of ordinary citizens.

And it's not just the House Republicans. Last week the Senate Republicans got into the act by introducing a bill to abolish the EPA. They didn't do this because they necessarily oppose clean water and air. They did it to save money for their corporate masters. They don't want the corporations to have to spend any of their record profits to clean up their emission or discharges (regardless of what it does to the environment).

The Republicans have fooled some of the American public into thinking they are actually trying to balance the budget. They aren't. The massive cuts of the Ryan Plan (including the abolishment of Medicare) don't really bring the deficit (or the national debt) down much at all. That's because those cuts are offsets by new giveaways (tax cuts and subsidies) to corporations and the richest Americans.

While Republicans say they want to balance the budget, what they really want to do is slant our economy even further in favor of the rich and the corporations, and to the detriment of ordinary Americans (who will be left footing the bill). Whatever they may say, you can count on the congressional Republicans to vote to:

* Abolish Medicare and Medicaid.
* Cut benefits to Social Security (and privatize it at the first opportunity).
* Cut food stamps, unemployment insurance, education funds, and any other program that helps ordinary Americans.
* Continue and increase subsidies for the giant corporations.
* Cut taxes for the rich and the corporations even more (in spite of the fact that they are at the lowest point in decades).
* Abolish the EPA, to the detriment of our environment.

If you want these things to happen, then the Republican Party should get your vote. But if you want a cleaner and more economically-fair America, you will never get that by voting for Republicans. Anyone who can't see that by now is not really trying to use that organ between their ears.