WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants oil companies to pay a $10 tax for every barrel of oil to help fund investments in clean transportation.
Obama will formalize the proposal Tuesday when he releases his final budget request to Congress. The $10-per-barrel fee is expected to be dead-on-arrival among Republicans who control Congress and oppose new taxes and Obama’s energy policies.
Still, the White House hopes the proposal will drive a debate about the need to get energy producers to help fund efforts to fight climate change.
The White House says the fees would be used to increase funding by $20 billion per year for traffic reduction and new modes of transportation like high-speed rail. Other funds would help cut carbon dioxide emissions within regional transportation systems and integrate self-driving cars.
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In addition to the $10-per-barrel tax, all of their massive subsidies need to be abolished.
Of course, we can file both of these sensible ideas under “ain’t gonna happen.”
Sounds good to me. They can afford it. Now watch them all cry about what a hardship this will be for them. Its more likely to impact their bottom line on obscene profits and piss off their shareholders, but hey…we already knew that. I think the President should also tack on another $10 for superfund cleanup sites around the country that they’ve helped create. Whaaaaaa…You can almost hear them crying already.
Yes, yes YES! This is more of our alleged lame duck president (gee, we haven’t heard this moniker from the other side now have we?) trolling all Republicans every chance he gets. Although of course this can’t become law w/o their votes in the House and Senate, his timing is superb. That and driving Republicans nuts! Watch for them to go absolutely ape-sh*t over this one, claiming overreach and that he’ll do an executive order soon (although I doubt he can do this).
Man, I hope he spends the rest of his time in office working to keep driving all of them bonkers and keep them off-balance on an ever-widening series of topics. Kudos Mr. President!