Chamber Fights Dem Plan to Toss Big Oil Tax Benefits

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly opposes Senate Democrats’ bill to throw away tax benefits for large oil companies. In a letter to the Senate Monday, Chamber lobbyist Bruce Josten said the proposal will threaten jobs and hurt consumers, The Hill reports.

The Chamber urges senators to vote against the bill when it comes up for a procedural vote Wednesday.

“While the Chamber believes that deficit reduction is a laudable goal, this goal should be achieved through spending cuts that address the root cause of the deficit, and not thru punitive taxation,” Josten wrote. “Bad tax policy and bad energy policy are not antidotes for the poison of the federal deficit.”

The legislation is “misguided, unwarranted, and ultimately counterproductive,” Josten wrote.