Debt for students, cold hard cash for oil companies

Rep. Mark Green's campaign manager has been complaining about a new TV ad that outlines some of Green votes regarding gas prices and big oil companies. Some of his statements have been a little confusing. At one point last year he said that Green voted for automatic gas tax hikes but now doesn't think it was a good idea.

I guess he was for it before he was against it.

However, in the latest Green Sheet newsletter from the campaign, Green's campaign manager says this:

Mark never voted for automatic indexing of our gas tax. Period.

So is he lying now or was he lying last year when he said Green voted for the automatic increases?

Either way, all the arguing over when he voted for what on gas tax increases misses the worst vote he took when it comes to gas and energy prices. And that vote is not being debated by Green's campaign manager in his "facts" about the TV ad being run against his boss because there is no way he can deny it.

The vote? Giving oil companies buckets of taxpayer money and getting nothing in return for it but higher prices for home heating and at the pump.

Green went along with the Bush Administration's plan to give profitable oil companies billions in tax breaks and then had the audacity to support increasing student loan interest rates, freezing the maximum Pell Grantfor the last four years, and cutting student aid by $12 billion. (see previous post for more on that topic)

Perhpas that's how your priorities get set when you take tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from oil company interests.