Oil Change International Reacts to Senate Passage of Republican Reconciliation Bill

The U.S. Senate just passed a reconciliation bill that eliminates environmental protections, takes a sledgehammer to the rapidly growing clean energy economy, and distributes major giveaways to Big Oil and other corporate polluters. In response, Collin Rees, United States Campaigns Manager at Oil Change International, said: 

“The Senate just passed perhaps the most harmful piece of legislation for the environment in U.S. history. This disastrous bill is the largest-ever transfer of wealth from working-class people to the wealthy. It strips healthcare from 17 million people, forces kids to go to school hungry, allows corporations to further pollute our air and water, destroys thousands of clean energy jobs, and puts us all at greater risk from climate disasters — all to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and handouts to the Big Oil CEOs who bought access to Trump. 

“New research shows the bill includes nearly $18 billion in new giveaways to the fossil fuel industry over the next ten years. That’s on top of the $170 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies the industry is already set to receive over the next decade. 

“Every senator who voted for this bill betrayed working people across the country. We’re the richest country on the planet. Our public money should be used to ensure no kid goes to bed hungry, guarantee everyone access to healthcare, and build a renewable energy economy that will create millions of good-paying jobs while tackling the climate crisis — not boost obscene profits for Big Oil billionaires.”