Gas Prices

The Obama Oil Boom (CHART)

Brian Beutler | April 9, 2012, 3:04PM

Until gas prices begin to come down, Republicans will continue to blame the spike on President Obama -- whose policies, they claim, have squelched U.S. energy production broadly.

"Over the past three years, President Obama has delayed, blocked, and restricted access to America's energy resources, leading to a seven percent drop in federal energy production and no real options to address the energy crisis we face today," wrote House Speaker John Boehner in a column published by his Ohio office. "[T]he administration's regulatory onslaught is having a direct impact here in Ohio. Most recently, GenOn Energy announced it will be closing plants in Avon Lake and Niles because of excessive government regulations. Reports indicate the company is unsure of how many, if any, of the jobs at those Ohio facilities it will be able to preserve. These job losses are a direct result of this administration's policies."

The argument has a tenuous connection to fuel and energy prices. But if Obama's held a heavy hand over American oil, surely it would be reflected in the labor market for extraction jobs, right?

Quite the opposite.

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White House

How The White House Will Fight The GOP On Gas Prices

Sahil Kapur | March 5, 2012, 11:10AM

President Obama talks about gas prices and energy policies at a packed crowd at University of Miami

Republicans have seized on rising gas prices as a political weapon against President Obama. The White House, sensing peril in the attacks as the election gets closer, has mounted a plan to fight back. And rather than simply playing defense, officials believe they can win the messaging war, tough as that may seem, by defending Obama's record and exploiting weaknesses in the GOP energy platform.

"If drilling were the answer, we wouldn't be having this conversation, because under the president production is up," a White House official told TPM. "Our oil imports are down, and even Republicans have conceded we're in a domestic energy boom."

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Oil

The Simple Chart That Pops Santorum's Housing Bubble Theory

Brian Beutler | February 29, 2012, 5:26AM

On Monday, Rick Santorum raised the bar for high-fuel price hysteria.

"The housing bubble was caused because of a dramatic spike in energy prices that caused the housing bubble to burst," Santorum told an audience in Colorado.

Well, fuel prices are on the rise again, and in defiance of the logic of the market, Republicans across the country want to hold President Obama and the Democrats to account. In Santorum's scenario, Obama is risking yet another worldwide financial crisis by not drilling in ANWR or green lighting the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Here's what Dean Baker, who was miles ahead of most economists in giving early warnings about the housing bubble, said about Santorum's theory.

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Gas Prices

The Truth About Political Attacks Over High Gas Prices

Brian Beutler | February 24, 2012, 5:25AM

Image from Orla/ Shutterstock

One of Aristotle's laws of nature is that every time fuel prices rise, political snake oil salesmen come out of hiding to blame it on their enemies: They attribute (or implicitly link) cost spikes to the other party's policy decisions. The solution, they always say, lies in the policies they've advocated since what feels like the beginning of time.

This happens every few years, and every few years it's total nonsense.

Since it's happening again, and since the press seems once again more concerned about the political implications of rising gas prices than with actual forces driving them up, TPM turned to energy expert Robert Rapier for an analyst's view.

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Gas Prices

Dems: Ending Tax Breaks For Big Oil Will Have No Impact On Gas Prices

Susan Crabtree | May 13, 2011, 12:33PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Democrats have spent the week dismissing GOP claims that ending tax breaks for the oil industry would result in higher prices at the pump. Republicans argue that the big five would simply pass along those added costs to consumers.

"It's Economics 101," a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told TPM earlier this week when asked for an explanation for the assumption.

Democrats brushed aside the claim as baseless, lame excuse for keeping the subsidies intact.

On Friday, the Democrats called in some economic expertise as backup to prove their point. Alan Krueger, an economic and public affairs professor at Princeton University joined Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a conference call with reporters. According to Krueger's analysis, ending tax breaks for big oil will do nothing to increase prices, or produce such infinitesimally small increases as to have no palpable impact whatsoever.

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Gas Prices

Senate Dems and Oil Execs Face Off Over Tax Breaks

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 12:15PM

Oil executives testify at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies received a harsh public flogging for near-record gas prices coupled with high profits for the first quarter of the year at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday.

Democrats excoriated the executives for rejecting calls to end tax breaks for the industry when they stand to make record profits and gas prices are reaching an all-time high at the pump.

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Gas Prices

Democrats Call Oil Execs On The Carpet For Tax Breaks

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 6:34AM

The stark differences between Democrats and Republicans on the oil industry and rising gas prices are on vivid display in Congress this week, as Democrats continue to demand an end to tax subsidies for the big-five oil giants while House Republicans pushed through a bill to expand offshore oil drilling.

A group of Senate Democrats gathered at an ExxonMobil station a stone's throw from the Capitol to call on the top five oil producers to voluntarily swear off $25 billion in industry incentives and tax breaks over the next decade.

Against the backdrop of a sign displaying $4.29 for regular unleaded, Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), Bob Menendez (NJ) and Debbie Stabenow (MI), said oil companies have made a record $125 billion profit, and in tough budgetary times, don't need the tax breaks in order to create incentives for more oil and gas exploration.

"It's time for the big oil companies to give up the subsidies and pay their fair share of the deficit reduction," Menendez said.

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Gas Prices

House GOP: Great News On OBL -- Now How About Those Gas Prices?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 3, 2011, 2:13PM

GOP Leaders

The two-week congressional recess that just ended was, it's fair to say, a little less than quiet. Rowdy townhalls focused on the GOP's plan to end Medicare, the release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate, capped off by the killing of Osama bin Laden. So on their first official day back to business on Capitol Hill, House Republican leaders attempted to shift the focus back to where they want it: gas prices.

Or, more succinctly, to shift the focus to the ways they say Democrats and President Obama are making Americans pay more at the pump. En masse, top leaders from the House GOP stood before the mics on Tuesday morning and tried to get the legislative session back on track by focusing on the issue they've said is a winner for them. Drilling, baby, drilling.

And after some talk about the bipartisan victory that is the death of bin Laden, the Republicans went right back to hammering Democrats over the cost of fuel.

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Barack Obama

Approval Of Obama's Handling Of Economy Hits All-Time Low In Marist Poll

Jon Terbush | April 28, 2011, 3:08PM

President Barack Obama

With the economy still sputtering and gas prices rising, the percentage of Americans who approve of how President Obama has managed the economy has sunk to a new low, according a Marist poll released on Thursday.

In the poll, only 40% of registered voters said they approved of how Obama had handled the economy. Meanwhile, 57% said they disapproved of Obama's job performance with respect to the economy, also a record in Marist's polls.

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Gas Prices

Reid to GOP: Just Try Voting Against Ending Subsidies For Oil Giants

Susan Crabtree | April 27, 2011, 3:52PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is following the White House's lead by seizing on the populist idea of ending subsidies for the five largest oil giants.

Reid said he would hold a vote as soon as possible on a bill to eliminate the tax breaks for the five largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, which have reported record profits in recent weeks and months.

"We have to take away the subsidies for these five major oil companies," he told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. "There's no need for these subsidies. The companies have broken records [with their] profits."

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Gas Prices

Obama's Targets GOP Divisions On Oil Subsidies

Susan Crabtree | April 26, 2011, 4:46PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and other members of the GOP leadership

President Obama knows all too well what it's like to feel the wrath of rankling his base by embracing compromise with Republicans on one of their ideological positions. That's why he didn't hesitate when House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) appeared to open the door -- just a crack -- to the idea of ending payments to oil companies in an interview with ABC News released Monday afternoon.

Boehner's office spent all day dialing back the bosses' comments.

"We have pointed out for years that raising costs for energy producers will raise costs for consumers," Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told TPM. "And we want to 'take a look' at anything that lowers gas prices - but the President's proposal won't do that."

But the damage was already done and the rest of the GOP leadership team was forced to quickly putty over any cracks appearing on the surface -- real or perceived -- while Obama did his best to exploit any divisions.

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Barack Obama

Obama to Boehner: Glad To Hear The Change Of Heart On Oil Subsidies

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 26, 2011, 2:46PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama didn't wait to take advantage of what looked to be a new Republican position on federal oil and gas subsidies. In a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Tuesday, Obama welcomed House Speaker John Boehner's apparent newfound appreciation for the call to end taxpayer payments to oil companies, expressed in an interview with ABC News on Monday night.

"I was heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry," Obama wrote. "Our political system has for too long avoided and ignored this important step, and I hope we can come together in a bipartisan manner to get it done."

Not so fast, Boehner's office said.

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