New Ad: Chambliss Takes Thousands From Big Oil As Gas Prices Skyrocket

Aug 08, 2008

Matthew Miller, DSCC

DSCC video blasts Chambliss for voting for Big Oil tax breaks; View here

As gas prices continue to skyrocket, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a new ad online today highlighting the hundreds of thousands of dollars Saxby Chambliss has taken from Big Oil while voting for billion dollar industry tax breaks and against protecting consumers from price gouging. The DSCC last week launched the website www.BoughtByBigOil.com to expose Republican Senators’ support for policies that leave Americans paying at the pump while oil companies bring in record profits.

“The hundreds of thousands that Big Oil has given to Saxby Chambliss are a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in special tax breaks Chambliss has given them,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “With oil companies reporting record high profits while families are paying record high prices, Georgians are going to have a lot of questions about Saxby Chambliss’ Big Oil record. Average Georgians can’t afford the big dollar contributions that Big Oil gives to Saxby Chambliss, but they do deserve a Senator who will fight for their families, not the oil industry.”

The ad can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvcwb0pyEs

Chambliss Has Accepted Almost $200,000 From Big Oil and Gas Industry. Over the course of his career, Saxby Chambliss has received $199,242 in campaign contributions from the big oil and gas industry. [Center for Responsive Politics]

Chambliss Helped Protect $5 Billion Big Oil Tax Windfall. Tax loopholes that save the oil industry $5 billion were removed from the original Senate version of the GOP tax cut bill in February 2006 in order to help families meet energy bills. But after heavy lobbying by the industry, Congressional negotiators reinserted them into the final bill. Chambliss voted for the final tax bill with the big-oil tax breaks. [Republican Policy Committee, 2/7/06; Washington Post, 4/26/06; Joint Tax Committee, 5/9/06; Vote 118, 5/11/06]

Chambliss Opposed Protecting Consumers From Gouging By Oil Companies. After Hurricane Katrina, Chambliss helped to kill a proposal to make gas price gouging a federal crime. If price gouging is not designated as a federal crime, the federal government can prosecute oil companies only if it can prove collusion to control markets, a standard that is nearly impossible to meet. [Vote 334, 11/17/05; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/18/05]