Speaking at the Golden Age Living Center in Smithville, Kay Barnes, 6th District candidate for Congress, pointed to the clearest example yet of how badly Washington is broken. She criticized Congressman Sam Graves' February vote to protect the tax breaks for the big oil companies less than two weeks after accepting a $2,000 campaign contribution from Exxon Mobil.
Barnes said to community members and leaders, "Exxon got what they paid for. Congressman Sam Graves delivered for them and not for you. So just remember the next time you fill up your tank - thanks to Congressman Sam Graves you are paying Exxon twice, once at the pump and again with your own tax dollars. He is making Washington work for the Exxon executives in Texas, and not for the consumers in Northwest Missouri and around the country. That is the formula for the status quo and I'm as sick of it as you are. It is not going to change until we change who we send to Congress."
On February 13, 2008, Exxon Mobil gave Congressman Sam Graves a $2,000 contribution, and 14 days later Graves voted against H.R. 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act, a bill which would redirect tax breaks away from the big oil companies and toward renewing the production tax credit for wind farms and creating new tax incentives for solar power and ethanol. Graves is one of Exxon's top recipients of campaign cash. Only 14 other members of the House of Representatives have received more campaign contributions from Exxon than Graves since 2006.
Barnes concluded, "When elected I will fight hard to pass legislation to take the tax breaks away from companies like Exxon and redirect those dollars to our wind farms and ethanol plants right here in Northwest Missouri. Congressman Graves makes Washington work for the corporate special interests and turns his back on consumers everywhere struggling to pay these outrageously high gas prices."
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