More Checks! The Gas Rebate Act Is Peak America
A new level of absurdity
House Democrats this week introduced a bill to send “stimulus” checks to consumers to alleviate the ongoing pain at the pump. Under the proposed legislation, for the rest of the year, individuals making $75,000 or less (or couples making $150k or less) would see a $100 check when gas prices exceed $4 per gallon. With numbers like $5/gallon, $6/gallon, even $7/gallon across the country, the answer from Congress is to simply help you pay for it — with your own money.
Is there anything more American than massively subsidizing oil and gas companies with public money, which distorts the market and artificially lowers consumer prices, and then when prices get too high anyway also subsidizing consumers on the other end—again with public money? All to prop up an industry that is killing the planet. And then, to make it all worse, balking at the idea of government intervention to control price because that would be manipulating the free market. This is the level of absurdity we have reached in America in 2022.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reported that direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry totaled $20 billion per year, with 80% going toward oil and gas.
I’m not saying I wouldn’t love a check. I live in New York; I don’t drive. I…
