Remember when you vote that state’s GOP House members voted against keeping costs down on gasoline and insulin.

Remember when you vote that state’s GOP House members voted against keeping costs down on gasoline and insulin.

November 7, 2022 by tomaswell

From coast to coast and border to border, the Republicans are running in the mid-terms on one issue: the economy.

They are beating Joe Biden and the Democrats to death on inflation and recession.

This despite the fact that he has created more new jobs than Trump ever thought about creating and despite the fact that Biden has reduced the federal debt by more than a trillion dollars after Republicans had sent it hurtling past the unbelievable $4 trillion mark.

Lost in all the rhetoric about Biden cutting domestic production is the fact – and it is a fact – that Trump, before leaving office, prevailed upon OPEC to cut oil production in order to increase the price for the benefit of big oil.

And boy, DID BIG OIL BENEFIT!

Exxon: Record profits of $24.4 billion (with a “B”) for the third quarter of 2022 compared to $19.7 billion for the same quarter of 2021;

Chevron: Third quarter profits of $11.2 billion compared to $6.1 billion a year ago;

Shell: Profits of $9.45 for the third quarter compared to $4.13 for the same period in 2021.

Of course, when oil profits go up, the cost of gasoline and diesel increases and when that happens, the cost of transporting goods must go up accordingly which translates to higher costs for food, clothing, appliances, etc.

And of course, it’s Biden’s fault.

Not so fast.

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Washington State) authored H.R. 7688, the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. It had 16 co-sponsors. Oddly enough, all 16 were Democrats. It passed by the narrowest of margins: 217-207. All 217 yea votes were cast by Democrats and 203 of the 207 nay votes belonged to Repugnantcans with five of their number not voting and four Democrats voting no.

H.R. 7688: Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act

May 19, 2022

Totals

Why would officials who were elected exclusively for the purpose of protecting the interest of American citizens (as opposed to corporate citizens) vote against the interest of their constituents?

You might begin by asking the five Louisiana Repugnantcan House members.

To a person, Reps. Steve “KKK” Scalise, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson, Julia Letlow and Garret Graves voted no. The only yea vote from Louisiana’s delegation was cast by Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat.

And then there’s H.R. 6833: the Affordable Insulin Now Act. Affordable insulin for diabetics sounds like a good bill, right? Well, not according to the 193 Repugnantcans who voted against it. It passed the House by a 232-183 vote. Twelve Repugs voted in favor not, a single Dem voted no. Five Repugs and a lone Dem did not vote.

H.R. 6833 Affordable Insulin Now Act

March 31, 2022

Totals

As noted, 12 Repugs voted in favor but you won’t fine any of them in Louisiana’s delegation. Again, all five voted against attempts to keep the life-saving medication affordable while Democrat Troy Carter again voted in support of the bill by Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minnesota). She had 31 co-sponsors, again, all Democrats.

So, if you haven’t already voted, you might want to keep these votes in mind when you head to the polls on Tuesday.

If you can’t rely on your representative to help keep the cost of gasoline and critical medicine down, just what can you rely on him/her for?

You don’t think the voices of the lobbyists for Big Oil and Big Pharma drowned out your voice, do you? Or maybe just plain partisan politics – you know, if the Dems are for it, the Repugs gotta be against it?

Nah. Couldn’t be. They promised when they ran that they would always work on your behalf, remember?

Must have been another reason.