Bingaman: Bill cutting oil co. tax breaks will likely fail

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said that a bill to end tax subsidies for large oil companies will likely fail next week. Bingaman is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The bill would end all tax subsidies for the five largest oil companies, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says it would shave $21 billion over 10 years from the budget.

Bingaman, who is retiring this year, said he isn’t sure how he will vote on the bill or a likely Republican counterproposal.

“I’ve voted in some cases to remove and reduce tax breaks for the oil industry in other cases I’ve voted not to because I felt that the proposals covered too much,” he said in an interview with C-SPAN which will air this weekend.

On Thursday, heads of the five biggest oil companies argued that cutting the tax breaks would hurt job and economic growth.

“By undermining U.S. competitiveness, they would discourage future investment in energy projects in the United States and therefore undercut job creation and economic growth,” Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said at a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is the sponsor of the legislation, titled the “Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act.”

The bill is likely to not have much, if any, Republican support. The bill would need some Republican votes and all Democratic votes to clear a Republican filibuster.