A note from www.earthjustice.org on the latest GoPpig Unethical Power Play

Americans who value clean air and clean energy scored a significant moral and strategic victory in the House of Representatives on Friday, when they very nearly defeated legislation designed to grant huge subsidies to cash-rich energy companies at the expense of public health. After every representative had voted, the bill was set to fail: but the vote was not closed! In a shameful abuse of power, supporters of the legislation had to resort to holding the scheduled five-minute vote open for more than 40 minutes to twist the arms and change the votes of enough representatives to ensure passage.

In the 48 hours before the vote, over 7,000 of you took action and asked your representative to oppose this big-oil boondoggle. To all of you: Thank you -- your work made a difference. Your voices helped make this vote one of the closest and hardest-fought in recent memory. As the vote stretched on, opponents of the bill chanted “Shame! Shame!” while the House leadership struggled to keep order. Rarely do the powerful energy interests face this degree of opposition in the House -- supporters of the bill were clearly shocked that their attempt to subsidize big oil at the expense of clean air safeguards was met with such fervent opposition.

With such a close and contentious vote in the House, this industry “wish-list” bill faces a steep uphill battle. Earthjustice will be working overtime to ensure that the Senate stands up for public health and environmental protection and opposes blatant industry giveaways. We cannot allow the energy industry and their backers in Congress to exploit the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita....

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