Saturday, October 08, 2005

Joe Barton pays off his oil company supporters with public tax money

Joe Barton has done it again. This from Think Progress:

Congress held open yet another vote to twist arms and pass a bill that would line the pockets of energy company executives. The House leadership held the five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince three lawmakers — Reps. Wayne Gilcrest (R-MD), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) — to change their minds. The bill passed 212-210. As the vote concluded, opponents of the bill chanted in unity: “Shame, Shame, Shame!”

Watch in streaming Quicktime (refresh if video doesn’t load)

The vote was held on the “Gasoline for America’s Security Act of 2005,” a provision sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) to nominally “expedite the construction of new refining capacity.” But the bill is essentially a giveback to the oil industry — Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) called it a “leave-no-oilman-behind bill.”

This is the same Congressional Representative who has tried to pass legislation that exempted the county that contained TXI's cement plant in Waxahachie, just south of Dallas-fort Worth, from air pollution limitations required to keep the Dallas-Fort Worth air clean.

Another example of Republican corruption.

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