Hagan Campaign: While Voting with Bush 92% of the Time, Taking Big Oil, Gas Money, Dole's "Bipartisan" Summit Comical
July 17, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. – State Senator and U.S. Senate Candidate Kay Hagan’s (D-Guilford)campaign today called into question Elizabeth Dole’s efforts to convene a “bipartisan” summit to address our nation’s pressing energy issues and the high price of gas which is crippling the economy and forcing working families to dig deep to make ends meet.
As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Dole allowed the committee to accept more than $1.2 million in donations from Big Oil and Gas, and since 2002, Dole herself has taken $270,000 from the industry, including $4,000 from Exxon Mobil’s PAC on the last day of June. In addition, she’s taken more than $530,000 from the energy and natural resource industry.
While she’s been in the U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Dole has voted with President Bush 92% of the time, supporting his terrible energy policies with votes against investing in renewable energy and against repealing the $17 billion in tax breaks given to Big Oil and Gas as recently as June. In addition, Dole was the deciding vote against a bill that would have extended renewable energy tax breaks by repealing $13 billion in tax breaks from the oil and gas industry, and has voted to give billions of tax breaks and incentives to Big Oil and Gas.
Last year, Dole voted against energy legislation that received bipartisan support, which among other things, made petroleum price gouging a federal crime in a “national energy emergency” and subjected the OPEC to U.S. antitrust laws. It also created new efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings and promoted new energy technologies. The legislation passed with 65 votes, which included the affirmative votes of 20 Republicans.
“Aside from the fact that she’s touting a summit as a way to help working families who are paying upwards of $4.10 per gallon for gas, it’s comical that Senator Dole would tout her “bipartisan” efforts while she has voted with President Bush 92% of the time, including against a measure that would have made price gouging a federal crime,” said Hagan Campaign Communications Director Colleen Flanagan. “The reason they’re paying that much for gas is because politicians like Elizabeth Dole have continued to do Big Oil and Gas’s bidding at every turn, even as recently as last month, while working families in North Carolina and across the nation foot the bill. One release touting a feel-good summit will do absolutely nothing to help working families who are paying for Elizabeth Dole’s actions, and even less to erase the votes she’s taken against working families and for Big Oil and Gas in the past.”
While Elizabeth Dole continues to follow the same old Washington way of doing business, Kay has proposed a full energy plan to help consumers feel relief at the pump now while moving to break our dependence on oil in the future. From supporting the move to halt deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and calling for pressure on OPEC to increase oil supplies so we can lower gas prices for consumers today, to repealing the billions in tax breaks and incentives for Big Oil and Gas and investing them in renewable energy and green jobs to make us energy independent for the future, Kay has put forth a forward-thinking agenda with real solutions to give people the relief they need today and in the future.
June 17: Dole Voted Against $18 Billion in Incentives for Green Energy Development. On Tuesday, June 17, Dole sided with wealthy hedge fund managers and multinational corporations instead of voting to provide incentives for clean energy development. [Vote 150, 6/17/08]
June 10: Dole Voted Against Stopping $17 Billion in Tax Incentives for Big Oil. On June 10, 2008, Dole voted against a bill to repeal tax benefits for large oil companies and, instead, invest the money into renewable energy development. [Vote 146, 6/10/08]
December 2007: Dole Cast Deciding Vote Against Renewable Energy Tax Breaks. In December 2007, Dole cast the deciding vote against the passage of a bill that would have extended renewable energy tax breaks by repealing $13 billion in tax breaks from the oil and gas industry. [Vote 425, 12/13/07; CQ Today, 12/13/07]
May 2006: Dole Voted For $5 Billion Tax Break For Big Oil In 2006. In May 2006, Dole voted for $5 billion in tax breaks to big oil companies [Vote 118, 5/11/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06]
July 2005: Dole Vote For $9 Billion In Tax Breaks And Subsidies For Big Oil In 2005. In July 2005, Dole voted for the 2005 energy bill that gave billions to the oil and gas industries. [Vote 213, 7/29/05; CNN, 7/28/05; AP, 7/21/06; Wall Street Journal, 7/18/06; New York Times, 3/27/06]
May 2004: Dole Voted For An $18 Billion Energy Tax Break. In May 2004, Dole voted against an amendment that would strike the provisions in the energy bill that would provide $18 billion in energy tax breaks. [Vote 89, 5/11/04]
###
