Dennis Kucinich: “When you're in a hole, stop digging. Our dependence on oil-- foreign and domestic--requires us to stop making the…”

“When you're in a hole, stop digging. Our dependence on oil-- foreign and domestic--requires us to stop making the problem worse by giving oil companies billions upon billions of dollars in truly unnecessary subsidies that worsen our dependence. This bill redirects $14 billion away from these subsidies and toward more sustainable energy production. The transition to a renewable energy economy is not optional. The question is whether we will wait so long to create the transition that we do not make it on our own terms. Europe gets it. They are pouring orders of magnitude more money into research on renewables, positioning their industries to thrive in the future. On the other hand, this Administration has been digging its heels in by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at an industry that made record profits on the backs of hard working Americans. We have a long way to go to catch up and this bill steers us firmly in that direction. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes''.”