Obama urges Congress to repeal oil industry tax breaks

 　　WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama pressed the Congress on Thursday to end billions of dollars in subsides¹ handed out to oil companies each year.

　　"Today, Members of Congress have a simple choice to make," said Obama. "They can stand with big oil companies, or they can stand with the American people."

　　Last year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than 80 billion dollars in profit. Exxon pocketed nearly 4.7 million dollars every hour. Every time gas goes up by a penny, these companies usually pocket another 200 million in quarterly profits, said Obama in the White House.

　　"Instead of taxpayer² giveaways to an industry that's never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double-down on investments in clean energy technologies that have never been more promising," said Obama. He listed wind power, solar power, biofuels, fuel-efficient cars, trucks and buildings as the future priorities.

　　The address came in response to rising pump prices, which had turned out to be a campaign issue and dragged down the supporting rate of Obama in the Gallup's poll. The U.S. national average regular gasoline price rose to 3.92 dollars per gallon on March 26, 2012, 18.76 percent increase since the beginning of this year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

　　Higher fuel prices hurt the economy and could dampen the moderate recovery. Most post-World War II U.S. recessions are linked to surging oil prices. GOP lawmakers, presidential candidates, and the oil industry had attacked the Obama administration's energy and economic policy.

　　Saying no silver bullets in the short term to help cushion against prices, Obama mocked the critics and trumpeted³ an "all-of- the-above" energy approach, in which he emphasized to develop oil and gas resources "in a responsible way" and keep investing in clean energy.

　　The U.S. Department of Interior announced on Wednesday to allow for oil and gas exploration off the coast of Alaska and in the Atlantic Ocean as an evidence that the Obama Administration was not hostile to fossil-fuel development.

　　"This is political rhetoric⁴ to make it appear the administration is doing something on gas prices, but in reality it is little more than an empty gesture," said Erik Milito, American Petroleum⁵ Institute upstream director.

1 subsides   

v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的第三人称单数 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上

参考例句：

• Emotion swells and subsides. 情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His emotion swells and subsides. 他的情绪忽高忽低。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 trumpeted   

大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Soldiers trumpeted and bugled. 士兵们吹喇叭鸣号角。
• The radio trumpeted the presidential campaign across the country. 电台在全国范围大力宣传总统竞选运动。

4 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

5 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。