I'd say Big Oil has done well enough on their own and don't really need any welfare to support their business. The Soviet-style handout system to Big Oil somehow (shockingly) managed to go unnoticed by the GOP rubber stamp Congress but those days are over. What a bunch of anti-free market freeloaders, not to mention their enablers in the GOP.
The bill is largely aimed at recovering an estimated $10 billion that stands to be lost to the government because of an error in deep-water drilling leases for the Gulf of Mexico issued in the late 1990s. Congressional auditors and the Interior Department's inspector general have said the mistake was ignored for six years by the Minerals Management Service, which oversees the leasing program.Now it's over to the Senate where my favorite hater of all Americans living overseas, Senator Grassley, thinks this is a bad idea. Apparently Grassley thinks Big Oil just hasn't had enough handouts and that taxpayers owe Big Oil something. Ever hear of capitalism, Chuck? Why does the US give so much more to Big Oil compared to other countries?
As the House began debate on the energy measure, Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney told a Senate hearing Thursday that the minerals bureau showed "a shockingly cavalier management approach" in dealing with the leasing error, although the problem was known within the agency as early as 2000.
