The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Using the Hurricanes as an Excuse to Give Gifts to Big Oil

Oct 10, 2005

The House of Representatives gave a nice gift to the oil companies. It passed a bill called the "Gasoline for America’s Security Act."

The bill still has to pass the Senate. If it does, it would delay current deadlines for smog cleanup until 2015 or later. It also provides subsidies to the mega-wealthy oil corporations if they construct new refineries or refurbish old ones–paid for out of our tax money, of course! And it gives the President the authority to designate federal land to be used as refinery sites. It’s all nothing but an enormous handout.

The politicians pretend they’re acting because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to ensure gasoline supplies during a crisis. In reality, they took advantage of Katrina to raise prices–then took advantage of higher prices to reach still further into our pockets.

The Democrats blame the passage of the bill on sneakiness by the Republicans. The bill passed by a vote of 212 to 210. The Republicans strong-armed two of their members to change their votes at the last minute. All the Democrats could figure to do was shout "Shame!" If they had really wanted to stop the bill, they could have found a way, like making sure that their six members who abstained had voted.

We can blame both parties for this bill!