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Styrofoam
Top three signs Republicans love big oil companies more than they love you.
3. A senior Republican congressman apologized to British Petroleum last year after its offshore rig caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
2. Congressional Republicans rejected my bill to cut unjustified subsidies to large oil companies, an outdated and costly incentive to drill for oil where they would drill anyway.
1. And the most recent sign Republicans love big oil more than they love you? They actually reintroduced Styrofoam cups to the House cafeterias.
I kid you not.
When’s the last time you had a cup of tea or coffee in a Styrofoam cup? MacDonalds, Starbucks and nearly every other major seller of hot liquids made the switch years ago. Styrofoam’s no longer needed and its bad for the environment. It lasts forever. And it is made from -- yes --petroleum.
Under GOP control, the House of Representatives this week trashed the innovative compostable cups and lids for hot and cold drinks that then Speaker Nancy Pelosi instituted as part of her successful Green the Capitol initiative and brought back the dreaded Styrofoam for Members of Congress, staff and visitors. Tens of thousands of cups per month!
Another victory for big oil; another blow to common sense, the environment, and innovation.
The GOP Congress has been in session almost three months and this is their only clear victory. They won the cup war! But as for jobs? Not one bill to create new jobs or strengthen the economy.
On the contrary, their extreme budget cuts would erase 700,000 jobs according to economist Mark Zandi, would slow economic growth by up to 2 percent according to Goldman Sachs, but would preserve Pentagon waste and unjustified subsides to oil companies and other special interests.
Maybe the plan is that long after the GOP is gone from power, people will remember their mark on leadership – at the landfill.
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