Here’s the Senate roll call on the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act. It got 51 votes. That’s a majority of the Senate. It’s nine votes short of passing under their screwed up rules. Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Begich of Alaska, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted against it. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine was the only Republican to vote for it. I wonder if any of you can find a voter in real life who thinks Big Oil companies need government subsidies.
Meanwhile, the House waited to the last minute to pass a 90-day highway bill. Funding runs out on Saturday. This leaves the Senate with an ultimatum to accept it because the House is going out on recess.
At another point, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) went on a rant for a full minute beyond his allotted speaking time, forcing presiding officer Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) to announce that he was no longer recognized.
“This kind of cold-blooded political calculation, to use the jobs of American working people as political cannon fodder for your agenda to defeat the Obama administration, is outrageous,” Miller said as Bass started to bang the gavel. “It should be rejected by your party, it should be rejected by my party.”
Good times. Meanwhile, Paul Ryan’s suicidal budget plan appears on track for passage.
In another humorous outbreak, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for the federal government to regulate fracking on federal land.
