Inside That $14 Billion

Was the 2005 energy bill really a big giveaway to big oil?

Senator Jim Talent's campaign says Claire McCaskill continues to falsely charge that the energy bill contained "a 14 billion dollar handout to big oil."

"Let me tell you, I'm not ashamed of being against the energy bill," McCaskill said Friday in Willard. "I'm proud to say I would've voted against the bill," she added, citing a $14 billion dollar tax break for oil companies.

"McCaskill's assertion is just not true," says Rich Chrismer, Talent's campaign spokesman. Chrismer sent me a pie chart from the House Ways and Means Committee outlining the tax incentives included in the energy bill.

The tax package includes $14.5 billion dollars to improve energy production, transportation and efficiency, according to the chart. Here's the breakdown:

*$3.1 billion for electricity reliability
*$2.9 billion for clean coal
*$2.9 billion for renewable and clean energy incentives
*$2.7 billion for energy efficiency and conservation measures
*$2.6 billion for oil and gas production and enhanced refining

"The energy bill contained tax incentives for energy production of all kinds," Chrismer says. "Incentives for oil production represented the smallest portion of a larger tax package in the energy bill."

Chrismer points out that just $2.6 billion dollars of the tax breaks go to oil and gas production. "If she wants to say the 2 point 6 billion dollar number, that's fine, but it's not 14 billion," Chrismer says.

Chrismer also says that Talent fought the oil companies to get the renewable fuels standard included. "The oil companies strongly opposed his legislation and they lost," Chrismer says.

The Talent campaign's point is that yes, the tax breaks total $14 billion - but most of it goes to clean and renewable efforts that McCaskill shouldn't be against.