Follow the Oil Money — Key Findings
Members of Congress Who Take More Money from Big Oil Vote More Often for Big Oil at the Expense of the Public Interest
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Members of Congress Who Take More Money from Big Oil Vote More Often for Big Oil at the Expense of the Public Interest
In our analysis of eleven key votes in the House and nine key votes in the Senate on climate, energy and the war in Iraq, we found a strong correlation between the tendency to vote for Big Oil (1) and increased amounts of money received from the oil industry.
Overall, House and Senate members who voted for Big Oil took almost four times more oil money (2, 3) than those who voted in favor of the public interest. In the House, members who voted for Big Oil accepted almost four times more oil money (4) than those who voted in the public interest. In the Senate, they received 2.6 times more oil money.
Big Oil Money and Votes that Kill Clean Energy
Overall, House and Senate members who voted against clean energy proposals accepted 4.2 times more oil money (3) than those who voted in the public interest.
Representatives who voted against clean energy proposals took more than 4.5 times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest.
This finding holds even within the parties: House Democrats who voted against clean energy proposals accepted 6.7 times more oil money than those who voted for the public interest. House Republicans who voted against clean energy proposals accepted 2.4 times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest.
Senators who voted against clean energy proposals took 3.3 times more oil money than those who voted in favor of clean energy.
This finding holds even within the parties: Senate Democrats who voted against clean energy proposals accepted 2.1 times more oil money than those who voted for the public interest. Senate Republicans who voted against clean energy proposals accepted 2.0 times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest.
Representatives who voted for the 2005 House Energy bill, which was stuffed with a variety of benefits for the oil, coal and nuclear industries, took nearly seven times more oil money than those who voted against it. This was the House energy/climate bill with the largest spread in oil money. Representatives who voted against the latest House energy bill, HR. 5351, (which would end some oil subsidies and fund clean energy) took on average 5.5 times more oil money than those who voted for it. The measure passed, and currently awaits Senate action.
Big Oil Money and the Perpetuation of War in Iraq
Overall, House and Senate members who voted to continue the war and occupation of Iraq accepted 3.2 times more oil money (3) than those who voted in the public interest.
Representatives who voted to continue the war and occupation took nearly three times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest. (5)
Senators who voted to continue the war and occupation took 1.5 times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest. (6)
Representatives who voted for a 2007 appropriation that required Iraq to pass a law to open up Iraq’s untapped oil reserves to exploitation by foreign companies received on average nearly seven times more oil money than those who voted against the bill.
Big Oil Money, Party Politics & Elections
The 25 Representatives who took the most Big Oil money per term between 2000 and 2007 voted for Big Oil on average 86% of the time. Of these 25 Representatives, 23 were Republicans and two were Democrats. The 25 Representatives who took the least amount of Big Oil money per term between 2000 and 2007 voted for Big Oil on average 22% of the time. Of these 25 Representatives, 22 were Democrats, 2 were Republicans, and one was an Independent.
The ten Senators who took the most Big Oil money per term between 2000 and 2007 voted for Big Oil on average 98% of the time. All of these Senators were Republicans. The 10 Senators who took the least amount of Big Oil money per term between 2000 and 2007 voted for Big Oil on average 35% of the time. All of these Senators were Democrats.
In the 2006 mid-term elections, four of the five biggest oil money Senators (7) were voted out of office in 2006. In contrast, all of the incumbents who took no oil money won reelection in 2006. In the House, 49 Representatives who voted with Big Oil 80% or more of the time retired or were voted out of office in 2006.
To find out more about the oil connection in Congress, check out the Follow the Oil Money online vote tracker at www.oilmoney.priceofoil.org. Find out how oily your members are and then contact them to demand a Separation of Oil & State!
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1) Votes for Big Oil are votes against clean energy, against measures to address climate change, and for the continued occupation of Iraq. Votes for the public interest are votes to support clean energy, to address climate change, and for an end to the occupation of Iraq.
2) For all of our money and vote comparisons, we used the average amount of oil money accepted per term between 2000-2007. Each member’s average was calculated by adding the amount of oil money contributions received by a member between 2000-07 and then dividing it by the number of terms served during that time frame.
3) The overall House and Senate ratios are higher than the separate chamber ratios due to our methodology of weighting the averages by how many votes were actually cast. This was done to correct for the larger number of votes and members in the House than in the Senate, in order to ensure that the votes in both chambers are weighted equally in the overall comparison.
4) 3.9
5) This result holds within the parties. House Democrats who voted to continue the occupation accepted 2.1 times more oil money than those who voted for the public interest. House Republicans who voted to continue the occupation accepted 1.6 times more oil money than those who voted in the public interest.
6) While this result also holds within the parties, the sample size of Senators voting against the war is very small.
7) These Senators were Santorum (R-PA), Burns (R-MT), Talent (R-MO), and Allen (R-VA).
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These findings are based on data that was updated February 2008.
Data available by the Center for Responsive Politics at http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/indusclient.asp?code=E01&year=2007.