Sen. Levin: Repealing oil company tax breaks depends on White House effort

A senior Senate Democrat who has pushed to repeal oil industry tax breaks believes the success of renewed efforts to strip the incentives rests on how much muscle the White House puts behind them.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) sponsored the most recent plan to come up for a Senate vote – an amendment that failed 44-54 in early February. But Democrats plan to take another shot in coming weeks, even though they face an uphill battle.

“It depends on whether the president really weighs in heavily. At least it depends in part on it,” Levin said in the Capitol Monday when asked whether there will be enough support to pass a repeal. He noted that President Obama favors ending the incentives.

Obama and Senate Democrats who favor stripping the incentives have pounced on high gasoline prices and high profits reported by companies including Exxon and Shell to call for another vote – and try to politically tether Republicans to oil companies.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday named the issue among his priority items for the upcoming several weeks before the Memorial Day recess.

“We will have the same debate in the Senate that the American people are having at home. That is the question of whether we should keep giving away money to oil companies who clearly don’t need taxpayer handouts,” he said, echoing comments last month in which he said, "We need to take away the subsidies of the five major oil companies."

But efforts to end tax incentives – such as the lucrative manufacturing deduction that Levin’s plan targeted – face major barriers in the Senate and even bigger problems in the GOP-led House. Republicans and oil-state Democrats say nixing industry incentives would hinder domestic development.

Levin, however, argued the effort is “picking up strength.” His February amendment garnered more support than a Senate vote in June 2010.