 Americans need relief from high gas prices and a smart energy policy. But in the dead of the night, Congress weakened the gas price gouging bill. Can you chip in to run this ad demanding Congress stand up to Big Oil on the upcoming energy votes?  Click Here |
Americans have spoken—in fact, we've yelled—that we need relief from high gas prices and a smart energy policy. But in the dead of the night, Congress weakened the bill that would make gas price gouging a federal crime.1 Now it's virtually unenforceable.
Big Oil and their friends in Congress were hoping no one would notice. We did. And we have to show them that this kind of bait-and-switch isn't acceptable.
There are more votes coming, and Congress needs to feel the heat from voters, so they stand up to the oil lobby. We've created a hard-hitting ad to run in the congressional paper, designed to do just that.
Can you chip in the average price of one gallon of gas—$3.29—to run this ad? Or even the cost of a tank of gas, if you can swing it?
Isn't it worth the price of one gallon of gas to get Congress to start cracking down on the oil companies?
If enough of us chip in, we'll run a series of ads like this one to demand that Congress stop letting the energy companies write our energy laws.
Some reps are fighting the good fight on this one, and still we're losing. Why? Because Big Oil has a lock on key votes, and it makes passing laws to get clean, affordable fuel virtually impossible. So, we'll use this series of ads to start calling out particular representatives by name who are at the center of the problem.
Price gouging is just the tip of the iceberg. Oil and coal companies contribute millions to republican—and key democratic—campaigns, so legislation that promotes clean and affordable energy is weakened or blocked altogether. Or even worse, they promote backwards policies like the massive program of subsidies for "liquid coal" which, if passed, would cost taxpayers billions and heat up the climate.
Here's how it works:
- The industry looks carefully at how many votes they need to be sure legislation that limits their power and their profits won't pass.
- They choose specific representatives who have a long history of promoting their interests.
- Then, they use their campaign donations and their constant lobbying to make sure these folks scuttle bills that combat high prices and the climate crisis.
But they're only successful when they think voters aren't watching and won't hold them accountable.
This month Congress is voting on a series of bills that will determine our energy policy going forward. Will it remain captive to big business? Will consumers get shafted and the climate continue to cook? Or will we have clean energy, good jobs, and affordable fuel?
We need to make the choice plain to congress—and demand they do the right thing. Can you chip in to run a series of powerful ads around the key votes this month, starting with this one?
Thanks for all you do.
–Ilyse, Wes, Jennifer, Carrie, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, June 14th, 2007
Source:
1. "The sponsor of a House Democratic plan designed to combat gasoline price gouging has made changes to his proposal to appease oil-patch Democrats on the eve of today's floor vote. Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., added a trigger to his bill allowing the FTC to go after price gougers only during presidentially-declared energy emergencies. This trigger is also included in a plan approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and included in a larger energy package that will be debated on the Senate floor in June."
Excerpted from National Journal's Congress Daily, May 23, 2007
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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