Senate Rejects Obama's Call To End Oil Subsidies
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) – Just a few hours after President Barack Obama called for the Congress to end the massive subsidies, the U.S. Senate was denied a vote due to a Republican filibuster preventing the bill from getting to the Senate floor.
Florida's Senators were split with Democrat Bill Nelson voting in favor of ending the subsidies and Republican Marco Rubio voting to let the tax subsidies continue.
Obama has targeted the oil company subsidies and profits as Americans continue to get squeezed harder and harder at the pump. As gas prices rise here and around the world, economists fear the oil companies could force the world economy back into recession.
"Last year the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than $80 billion in profits. Exxon pocketed nearly $4.7 million every hour. And when the price of oil goes up, prices at the pump go up, and so do these companies' profits," Obama said. "In fact, one analysis shows that every time gas goes up by a penny, these companies usually pocket another $200 million in quarterly profits."
Breaking those numbers down further, according to Obama's numbers, Exxon-Mobil made roughly $1,305 every second in the 2011 fiscal year.
Republicans counter that ending the tax subsidies for big oil companies could further increase prices at the pump.
