Obama wants to put an end to the oil industry tax breaks

President Barack Obama speaks about his birth certificate from the briefing room of the White House in Washington, April 27, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin LamarqueBy Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON | SAT Apr 30, 2011 6: 02 am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-President Barack Obama on Saturday kept pressure on Congress to tax breaks for oil and gas companies, say they were enjoying huge profits, as he wanted to limit political impact of rising gasoline prices.

With public anger over the costs at the pump hit Obama popularity if he up his 2012 reelection bid touring, he insisted his call rolling back $ 4 billion in "unjustified tax subsidies" in a time of budget cutbacks in Washington.

But opposition Republicans continued their efforts to cast blame on the Democratic president for an increase in gas prices that Americans wallet in a time of persistently high unemployment and slow economic recovery is overload.

"When we for spending from the federal budget are washing, oil companies are making huge profits and you at the pump struggles we can afford to do without, this tax giveaways are not equal," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "They are not smart. And we need to end them. "

Oil companies Posted sharply higher first-quarter profit this week with oil prices above $ 100 per barrel on the turmoil in the Middle East and the growing global demand for energy.

The lead, Exxon Mobil, beursgenoteerd's world's most valuable company, beat analysts forecasts by posting a 69 percent increase in profit to 10.65 billion dollars, the largest gain since the third quarter of 2008.

Obama insisted he remained committed to "safe and responsible oil production here at home", but said that the money from the oil industry tax subsidies would be better invested in the development of alternative energy sources.

REPUBLICAN REBUTTAL

The Republicans in response, Congressman James Lankford of Oklahoma, said an oil State, Americans were looking for leadership in addressing gas prices but that Obama "a tax increase on energy and the prospect of reduced supply has only offered" and had the industry in the new arrangements being suffocated.

He said the Obama proposal withdraw oil industry tax breaks would be counterproductive, and vowed that Republicans in the House of representatives would try to give their own energy initiative of creation next week.

"The President may think he punishes CEOs of large companies, but his plan will hurt the daily consumer of energy and the jobs of millions of hardworking people in U.s. based companies in jeopardy," said Lankford.

But the Republican attitude is far from uniform. President of the Commission of Parliament's budget, Paul Ryan said on Thursday that he supports cutting tax breaks for the oil industry in searching for ways to fight rising gasoline prices and corporate tax loopholes.

Gasoline prices are a very politically loaded question become after pressing national to $ 4 per gallon, and Republicans see it as a weak point for Obama in their efforts to defeat him in the election 2012.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll published on Tuesday, said 71 percent of those polled gasoline prices were causing them severe financial difficulties, while 55% of the way that Obama his job as President was treatment rejected.

Obama has insisted there is no "magic bullet" for bringing down gas prices. But the White House is worried that if gas prices continue to rise, the issue can drown out the economic recovery message in the heart of his re-election strategy.

(Edit by Mohammad Zargham)

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