Bush Legacy Tour

Oil Companies Rake in Record Profits, Americans Pay Record Gas Prices While Bush and His Republican Allies Protect Obscene Tax Breaks for Big Oil 

Exxon, Chevron Profits Top Estimates After Oil Surges

Exxon Mobil Posts Record Profits

Exxon shatters profit records

Washington, DC-- While Americans, many of whom are being squeezed by an economy on the brink of recession, are paying record prices at the pump, the nation's big oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, raked in record profits of nearly $119 billion last year - all while President Bush and his Bush-Republicans in Congress blocked efforts to repeal obscene taxpayer handouts to the oil industry.  Since Bush came into office, Big Oil has reaped a half a trillion dollars in profits but has invested a pittance of those profits to produce lost cost renewable fuels to reduce our dependence on oil.

"One of the most troubling and disastrous legacies of President Bush and his Republican allies will be the wholesale selling out of Americans and their energy future to Big Oil," said Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change and founder of the Bush Legacy Project.  "Of course, with 72 percent of all oil industry political contributions going to Republicans (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01), no one should be surprised that when given a choice between ordinary Americans and Big Oil, Bush, Cheney and their disciples in Congress - the Bush Republicans - side with Big Oil while regular folks get the shaft.  Is it any wonder then that Bush and Bush Republicans in Congress have fought tooth and nail to protect oil industry tax breaks - handouts that these record profits show they clearly don't need - all while denying healthcare for millions of poor children.  Of course, Bush and the Bush Republicans in Congress didn't get millions of dollars in contributions from poor kids and their families."

Bush and the Bush Republicans in Congress' legacy on energy and Big Oil is a central theme in a new national television ad debuted by Americans United for Change on Monday as Bush was preparing to give his final State of the Union Address as part of the organization's Bush Legacy Project.  The Bush Legacy Project is a multi-million dollar paid media, grassroots, and online effort with the goal of cementing into history what the last 7 years of the Bush/Conservative ideology has wrought on America, from the looming economic recession, the endless war in Iraq, shortchanged domestic priorities like children's and veterans' healthcare, millions more Americans uninsured, stagnant wages, a mortgage crisis, the middle class squeeze, exploding deficit, and the list goes on.

From http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01:

†These numbers show how the industry ranks in total campaign giving as compared to more than 80 other industries. Rankings are shown only for industries (such as the Automotive industry) -- not for widely encompassing "sectors" (such as Transportation) or more detailed "categories" (like car dealers).

*These figures do not include donations of "Levin" funds to state and local party committees. Levin funds were created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.

METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions of $200 or more from PACs and individuals to federal candidates and from PAC, soft money and individual donors to political parties, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. While election cycles are shown in charts as 1996, 1998, 2000 etc. they actually represent two-year periods. For example, the 2002 election cycle runs from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002. Data for the current election cycle were released by the Federal Election Commission on Monday, January 07, 2008.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.

NOTE: Soft money contributions to the national parties were not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.