One of the worst disasters in American history has left our nation heartbroken and angry. In the U.S. Senate, however, it's business as usual.
It's been nearly two months since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon sent millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. And its been almost a year since the House of Representatives passed a bill to move the United States in a different direction: to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel and accelerate our transition to renewable energy.
In the meantime, the Senate has done ... nothing of the kind. Legislation that would curb greenhouse gas emissions has languished for months. The upper chamber seems determined to earn its reputation as the place where good ideas go to die.
The Senate did find time yesterday to preserve a set of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. Special loopholes enable companies like ExxonMobil to avoid paying income taxes altogether. Last year, in fact, when ExxonMobil recorded the highest profits of any corporation in history, the company actually received a tax refund.
In his 2011 budget request, President Obama proposed repealing more than $35 billion of fossil fuel subsidies, in order to decrease the deficit and advance a clean energy economy. Senate Amendment 4318, offered during yesterday's debate over the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010, would have done exactly that. But a majority of senators - including my opponent - voted no.
Plenty of politicians promise to stand up to special interests. But actions speak louder than words. Real reform takes courage: the courage to take on your corporate contributors - or, better yet, to turn down their cash in the first place.
The oil slick now spreading through the Gulf is the product, in part, of an even bigger slick of oil money flooding Washington, D.C. As the President said last night, "Oil companies showered regulators with gifts and favors, and were essentially allowed to conduct their own safety inspections and write their own regulations." The same pay-to-play political culture - a philosophy, as the President put it, "that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules and police themselves" - has eroded public confidence in Capitol Hill.
We will never free our country from Big Oil until we free Congress from Big Money.