Franken votes to stop sending subsidies to oil companies

U.S. Sen. Al Franken voted Monday  to stop sending billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to large oil companies, which netted nearly $1 trillion dollars in profits over the last 10 years.

Franken, in a prepared statement, said the money should instead be invested in deficit reduction and in clean energy technologies that reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The Senate voted 92-4 to bring the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act to the floor for a final vote. Franken is a cosponsor of the bill.

“It makes no sense for taxpayers in Minnesota and across the country to continue to send billions of dollars to the five biggest oil companies when they made nearly $1 trillion in profit over the last decade,” said Franken, D-Minn. “The money saved from ending these unnecessary subsidies will not only cut the deficit but also create jobs by investing in new technology to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.”

The Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act would:

• End subsidies that include provisions allowing "major integrated oil companies" to claim foreign royalty payments as a credit against U.S. taxes, take a manufacturing deduction for oil production, take a deduction for the cost of developing wells, take a deduction of oil and gas revenues, immediately deduct the cost of materials used to recover oil from wells, and receive relief from royalties owed on production from the Outer Continental Shelf. Ending these subsidies for Big Oil would save nearly $24 billion over ten years.

• Use the savings from the tax subsidies to invest in job-creating, clean energy technologies like advanced vehicles, wind, solar, and biofuels. The savings would also fund programs to provide grants in place of tax credits for renewable power projects, tax credits for electricity produced from wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar, tax credits for clean energy technology manufacturing facilities, as well as tax credits for electric vehicles, biofuels, manufacturing of efficient appliances, and energy efficient home building and upgrades. These investments would total more than $11 billion over ten years.

• Use the remaining savings to reduce the deficit.

Franken has actively pushed to stop sending taxpayer subsidies to large oil companies. In May, he joined 19 of his colleagues in an effort to ensure that last summer's budget deal to reduce the deficit included an end to taxpayer subsidies for the five largest oil companies. Prior to that, he cosponsored the “Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act,” which would close the tax loopholes that allow oil companies to avoid billions in taxes. Franken also wrote an op-ed and delivered a speech on the Senate floor about ending subsidies for big oil.