Big Oil Lobbying - 8/22/08

As Congress passes a barrage of energy bills, the oil companies are spending records amounts of money in Washington to protect their interest.

The oil industry surprisingly spends a relatively small amount on individual political campaigns, but ranks fifth when it comes to lobbying spending convincing lawmakers to vote its way.  It has broken last year’s record of $83 million.  They have been setting records since 2005.

It is not surprising they spent so much money on lobbying this year due to the fight over energy legislation and with the huge election around the corner.

Many bills have been introduced by the Democrats favoring heavy taxing on oil companies and funding renewable.  The Republicans and the oil industry have been pushing for more drilling.  So far no major energy bills have been passed.

The two parties are deeply divided on how to solve the energy problem.  The Republicans want to put the Democrats in a bad light for opposing offshore drilling while the Democrats hope to do the same with Republicans as a party of big oil.

With this picture it is difficult to get a bill passed.

The oil industry has spent heavily on lobbying because it is a target of many of the bills.  It must be working because they have been able to avoid higher taxes while renewable energy has not seen a big increase in funding.

The renewable energy industry has spent half the amount of money lobbying then the oil industry.

Direct contributions to a political campaign cannot be made by corporations, they must come from individuals.

John McCain has received $1.4 million from oil industry employees in the 2007-2008 election, more than any other politician, three times more than Barack Obama has received.

This is consistent with how oil industry employees give to Republicans.

With high gas prices this can be dangerous for politicians labeled as, in the pocket of the oil industry.

Even though McCain received more money from Exxon, Chevron and BP, more employees gave money to Obama than they did to McCain.

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