What $230,000 Buys You

In his last bid for re-election, Rep. Roy Blunt accepted more than $230,000 from PACs and individuals involved in the Oil and Energy Industries.  Unfortunately for Big Oil, those contributions went to a man who no longer serves as a leader of the Congressional majority.  But despite Blunt's vast reduction in personal power in a Democratically controlled body, the Energy Industry is still getting some of its money's worth.

Witness today's piece in National Review Online authored by Roy Blunt, in which he goes to the mat to defend oil companies from legislation that might cut into their hefty bottom lines:

But while denying reality...has
become a common strategy among Democrats in the 110th Congress, the
so-called Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act represents
its own special brand of legislative fantasy. Because a closer look at
the bill reveals that, to the extent any measure of “conservation” will
be achieved, it’ll be accomplished by making energy so expensive that
everyday Americans won’t be able to afford it.

Blunt suggests that the bill would simply make energy more expensive for Americans --essentially endorsing the idea that any costs faced by the incredibly profitable energy industry be passed along wholesale to consumers.  But via fellow bloggers at Proctoring Congress, we see what's really going on:

(t)he bill would transfer about $18 billion in
tax breaks over 10 years from oil and gas producers to provide tax
incentives for hybrid cars, and energy-efficient homes, appliances and
buildings. The bill would also extend tax credits that are due to
expire at the end of the year for wind, solar and other forms of
renewable energy.

In other words, for Big Oil's meager quarter-million dollar investment in Roy Blunt's campaign, they get his help in hanging onto $18 billion in tax credits that might otherwise subsidize renewable energy sources.  A pretty good deal, taken altogether.  For the energy industry, of course.  Not for us