Robin Carnahan: “Republican policies continue in this Congress to favor the wealthy over middle-income Americans and without regard to…”

“Republican policies continue in this Congress to favor the wealthy over middle-income Americans and without regard to the budget deficit that is expected this year to reach $370 billion. In the Senate late last year, they had the good sense, common sense to block extension of special tax cuts. The argument was that they should not be extending these cuts to benefit the wealthy while our lawmakers were advancing a broad budget-cutting bill that mainly targeted programs for the poor such as Medicaid and welfare. Our ranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee said, ``You talk about completely detached from reality. That's this place.'' Well, Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the AP reported that the average cost of unleaded gasoline was $2.92, up 35 cents from a month ago. Moreover, U.S. drivers are now paying about 14 percent more to fill their tanks than a year ago. The energy bill passed by this Congress last year was a multibillion dollar giveaway to big oil companies. It picked the pockets of the American people and helped line the pockets of Big Oil. Those taxpayer funded special breaks for Big Oil could have much better been used for funding alternative fuels and getting us weaned off our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Despite the failure of this policy, the Republican tax bill gives even more to the big oil companies.…”