Do Republican leaders really want tax reform and believe that the government should stop picking winners and losers? Did President Obama mean it when he promised, in his State of the Union address, “no more handouts”? Do congressional Democrats really oppose corporate welfare?
The next few weeks will tell, as Congress debates tax legislation and a proposal by a handful of conservative lawmakers to end energy subsidies — for both oil and renewable energy — that take the form of tax credits.
Freshmen Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas has proposed the loftily titled “Energy Freedom and Economic Prosperity Act,” while the Senate’s Tea Party heroes, Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Mike Lee (Utah), have introduced the companion bill in the upper chamber.
