US Senate blocks two oil bills as Democrats, GOP clash over gas prices
Two oil-related bills were blocked this week in the US Senate along partisan lines, as Democrats and Republicans continue to propose differing solutions to reduce retail fuel prices.
Senate Republicans denied a vote on the Democratic bill that would have repealed tax breaks for the five biggest oil companies. That followed testimony from several executives at a Senate hearing last Thursday.
A procedural vote on the bill won support from 52 senators while 48 rejected it, falling eight votes short of the 60 needed to move toward a final vote.
The final vote had been slated for sometime this week.
Three Democratic senators broke ranks and went against the bill, while a pair of Republican senators from Maine supported the measure. Democrats control 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats.
Democratic leaders said they would again push for the bill during negotiations to increase the US debt limit.
President Barack Obama has repeatedly blamed major oil companies, which enjoyed strong profits to begin 2011, for the rapid rise in retail gasoline prices.
But Republicans, oil executives and industry groups disputed that view, placing blame on limited supply and speculators in the market. Opponents also said the bill would unfairly target a select few companies and could lead to even higher fuel prices, as companies could push higher taxes down to consumers.
Also this week, Senate Democrats led an effort to block a Republican-sponsored bill to increase offshore drilling.
Supporters of that bill, which failed by a 42-57 vote, argued that increased offshore drilling could aid US supply, thus reducing crude and eventually gasoline prices.
In the wake of last year’s Deepwater Horizon rig disaster, the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental group, called the bill a "misguided attempt to expand drilling and weaken safety and environmental oversight."
Average US retail gasoline prices have fallen by nearly 10 cents/gal this week following the recent pullback in WTI and Brent crude values.
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