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Sen. Elizabeth Warren questions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent duting a Senate Finance Committee hearing on president’s proposed budget.<\/span>AP\/Jose Luis Magana<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was originally published b<\/em>y the<\/em> Guardian<\/a>\u00a0and is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration<\/em>.<\/p>\n Democratic lawmakers led<\/span> by the Massachusetts senator\u00a0Elizabeth Warren<\/a>\u00a0are pressing two\u00a0energy companies<\/a>\u00a0about their efforts to \u201cwin a $1.1 billion tax loophole\u201d in Donald Trump\u2019s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill.<\/p>\n The proposed exemption, which Senate Republicans inserted into their version of the reconciliation megabill this month, would exempt fossil fuel companies from paying a tax codified by Biden in 2022. \u201cIt\u2019s an insult to working people to give oil companies a massive tax handout while slashing healthcare and raising energy prices for millions of families,\u201d Warren, who was a major advocate for the tax, told the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans deserve to know if Big Oil paid for these Republicans in Congress to carve out tax breaks just for them.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Enshrined within the Inflation Reduction Act, the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT) requires corporations with adjusted earnings over $1 billion to pay at least 15 percent of the profits they report to their shareholders, which are known as \u201cbook profits,\u201d in taxes. The Senate Finance Committee\u2019s\u00a0proposal<\/a>\u00a0would shield domestic drillers from that tax by allowing companies to deduct certain drilling costs when calculating their income\u2014a change that would allow some companies to pay zero dollars in federal taxes.<\/p>\n Winning the tax tweak has been a\u00a0major priority for fossil-fuel interests<\/a>\u00a0this year. The oil major\u00a0ConocoPhillips<\/a>\u00a0and Denver-based petroleum company\u00a0Ovintiv<\/a>\u00a0directly lobbied for the change, federal disclosures show.<\/p>\n On Thursday morning, Warren, along with Senate Democratic colleagues Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), Ron Wyden (Oregon), and Minority Leader\u00a0Chuck Schumer<\/a>, sent letters to ConocoPhillips and Ovintiv pressing for answers on their role in shaping the CAMT change. \u201cYour company\u2019s lobbying disclosures\u00a0explicitly<\/em>\u00a0prioritize this handout,\u201d read the letters, which were shared exclusively with the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n Both companies could \u201cbenefit tremendously from this provision,\u201d read the letters, which are addressed to the ConocoPhillips CEO, Ryan Lance, and the Ovintiv CEO, Brendan McCracken, respectively.<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/em> has contacted ConocoPhillips and Ovintiv for comment.<\/p>\n In their missives, the senators asked how much each company has spent on lobbying for the provision and will spend this year, how much each has donated to elected officials advocating for fossil fuel tax cuts, and how much of a reduction in taxes each company would see if the provision is finalized, requesting answers by July 9.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rationale for CAMT was simple: for far too long, massive corporations had taken advantage of loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying their fair share, sometimes paying zero federal taxes despite earning billions in profits,\u201d the signatories wrote.<\/p>\n The proposed change, the letters note, closely resembles a bill introduced by the Oklahoma senator James Lankford this year, which would allow companies to subtract \u201cintangible drilling and development costs\u201d from their CAMT income calculations.<\/p>\n Lankford accepted nearly\u00a0$500,000 in donations<\/a>\u00a0from the fossil fuel sector between 2019 and 2024, making it his top source of industry funding. The Guardian has contacted the senator for comment.<\/p>\n Deductions for intangible drilling costs\u2014referring to costs incurred before drilling, such as for labor and equipment\u2014have been on the books since 1913, making them the oldest, largest US fossil fuel subsidy, according to one\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on the Lankford proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cBig Oil now wants this deduction to apply not only for purposes of their taxable income, but for book income purposes as well,\u201d the letters say. \u201cPut another way, if enacted, this provision would reduce or even eliminate tax liabilities for oil and gas companies under CAMT, allowing some to pay no federal income taxes whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n Other energy-related provisions in the draft reconciliation bill would phase out incentives for clean energy manufacturing and energy efficiency, causing\u00a0utility bills to rise<\/a>\u00a0and jobs to be lost. This makes the tax break proposal \u201cespecially insulting,\u201d says the letter, which was sent as temperatures spiked across much of the US.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans deserve to know if Big Oil paid for these Republicans in Congress to carve out tax breaks just for them,\u201d said Warren.<\/p>\n As drafted, the reconciliation bill would also jeopardize energy security by curbing the growth of renewable energy, Schumer told the Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Republicans\u2019 plan is a complete capitulation to Big Oil at the expense of clean energy and American families\u2019 wallets,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cRepublicans would rather kill over 800,000 good-paying jobs and send energy costs skyrocketing than stand up to their Big Oil billionaire buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n