This morning Barack Obama called attention to the huge subsidies US taxpayers pay to Big Oil, despite record profits and rising supplies. In addition he challenged several Republican lies regarding the oil industry and his own policies toward it.

President Obama on Thursday urged Congress to drop billions of dollars in tax breaks that amount to subsidies for the largest oil firms operating in the United States, which he noted were showing record profits as millions of Americans watch rising gas prices strain their household budgets. "I think it is time they got by without more help from taxpayers," Mr. Obama said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden, "the oil industry is doing just fine." Mr. Obama’s push comes minutes ahead of a Senate vote on a bill that would repeal the subsidies. With strong opposition from Republicans, the Senate is not expected to garner the 60 votes needed to approve the measure. But rising gas prices are a major concern at the White House and in Chicago, where Mr. Obama’s campaign is preparing for a fight to the finish with the Republican nominee for president… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CBS>

Here’s the video.

I agree with Obama that we need to invest that subsidy money in clean energy.

Now there may be a lot about Obama’s energy policies with which you disagree, as I do too. Sadly, the majority of the US voting public has not caught up to us yet. Nevertheless, Obama has done more to reduce our dependence of foreign oil than any president in my memory, and everything Republicans say to the contrary are lies.

There is no question that Senate Republicans will filibuster this measure, so we must make them pay for those votes.