Treat or Trick! Biden floats tax on Big Oil’s ‘excess profits’

The relationship between the price of oil and the prices of gas is complicated, my colleague Andrew Van Dam explained months ago. The United States has been a net exporter of oil and gas since 2018, but that doesn’t necessarily make for cheaper gas at home, my colleague Shannon Osaka detailed in October. 

But American rage at how much it costs for a tank-full is a defining feature of the contest for control of Congress, and the administration has tried to direct that anger toward the biggest petroleum firms, major oil-exporting nations like Saudi Arabia, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

• One feature of Biden’s populist campaign has been to highlight Big Oil’s massive profits, and industry choices to commit chunks of that wealth to buying back stock or paying out dividends, policies that reward shareholders, rather than boost production or lower gas prices.

So on March 17, for example, then-press secretary Jen Psaki came to the White House briefing room armed with quotes from oil-company CEOs saying the quiet part out loud.

That included the CEO of Occidental Petroleum saying, during an February earnings call: “We have no need and no intent to invest in production growth this year.”

“The oil and gas industry right now is receiving windfall profits,” Psaki said, adding that “too many” companies were “returning money to investors and shareholders through buybacks and dividends, instead of expanding production enough in the short term, which is what we need.”

She did not, however, endorse a windfall tax.

Come June 10, Biden was using a speech at the Port of Los Angeles to declare he’d like to “pop” corporations for rising prices, proclaim “Exxon made more money than God this year,” and say that stock buybacks “should be taxed, quite frankly.” (Still no explicit “windfall tax” endorsement.)

A few days later, with gas prices at their highest and congressional liberals pushing for a windfall profits tax aimed at the oil and gas sector, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to express support. “I don’t have a position for you to share at this time on that,” she said. 

• Pressure on Biden lessened a bit over the succeeding months as gas prices ebbed. But with the midterms looming and a majority of Americans disapproving of his handling of the economy — as well as setbacks in outreach to oil exporters, who announced a cut in output rather than an increase — the president has sharpened his tone.

“My message to the American energy companies is this: You should not be using your profits to buy back stock or for dividends. Not now. Not while a war is raging,” he said in remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Oct. 19. 

 “You should use those record-breaking profits to increase production and refining. Invest in America for the American people.  Bring down the price you charge at the pump to reflect what you pay for the product,” Biden said.

And the president’s official Twitter account took aim on Friday after Exxon’s CEO seemed to describe quarterly dividends as generosity toward “the American people.”

Which gets us to Monday’s remarks.

My colleagues Jeff Stein, Evan Halper and Yasmeen Abutaleb noted the timing: 

“The remarks come days after the world’s largest oil companies reported another quarter of blockbuster earnings, with ExxonMobil posting a record profit of $19.7 billion. Chevron posted an $11.2 billion profit, its second highest on record.”

• Still, they noted, “Biden’s remarks on Monday are unlikely to lead to the passage of a new law” even as some U.S. allies head in that direction.

“A report by the Tax Foundation … finds that many of the existing windfall taxes have failed to deliver the projected revenue, have penalized corporate energy customers in unintended ways and threaten to raise the cost of fuel,” my colleagues said.

“[M]any moderate Democrats are reluctant to champion these kinds of levies on oil companies, which the United States experimented with during the Nixon and Carter eras. Analysts found that the taxes ultimately contributed to the energy shortages of the time.”

All of which makes it unlikely the administration will put this one in drive.

Roberts temporarily delays release of Trump tax records

“Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. temporarily halted the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax records to a congressional committee, and called for more briefing in the case by Thursday,” Robert Barnes reports.

“Without the Supreme Court’s intervention, the records could have been handed over to the House Ways and Means Committee as early as Thursday.”

MAGA porn, hate for Trump: China-based accounts stoke division

“Twitter has disrupted three China-based operations that were covertly trying to influence American politics in the months leading up the midterm elections by amplifying politically polarizing topics, according to a trove of data released by the social media giant to researchers and The Washington Post,” Naomi Nix, Jeremy B. Merrill and Joseph Menn report.

• “The operations spanned nearly 2,000 user accounts, some of which purported to be located in the United States, and weighed in on a wide variety of hot-button issues, including election-rigging claims about the 2020 presidential election and criticism of members of the transgender community.”

Pfizer’s RSV vaccine, given during pregnancy, protects infants from severe illness

“Pfizer announced Tuesday that its maternal RSV vaccine, given during pregnancy, protected infants from developing severe symptoms during the first six months after birth — a critical window of vulnerability,” Carolyn Y. Johnson reports.

Lunchtime reads from The Post

Accused Pelosi attacker’s history shows blurry lines of radicalization

“The path that led an attacker to the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was long and meandering, with evidence suggesting that he dabbled in fringe movements of all sorts before embracing the right-wing vilification of Democrats,” Hannah Allam and Souad Mekhennet report.

“The complex history of accused attacker David DePape’s radicalization unfolded over more than eight years and several different ideologies, moving from Green Party support and nudist activism, to a hateful mix of racist, anti-Jewish and misogynistic rhetoric, according to terrorism analysts who’ve studied his writings and social media posts.”

GOP push to monitor voting in Texas’s Harris County spurs outcry

“With a week to go before Election Day, a showdown is emerging between state and local leaders here over how to protect the security of the vote without intimidating voters and election workers. The clash is playing out in Harris County, Texas’s largest jurisdiction and home to Houston, where state and local Republicans are deploying monitors to oversee the handling of ballots in the Democratic enclave. Local Democratic officials have said the move is an effort to intimidate voters — and asked the Justice Department to send federal observers in response,” Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Amy Gardner report.

“The result could be a partisan showdown, in which two different sets of monitors face off on Election Day in this giant metro region. That’s not including the thousands of partisan poll watchers who are expected to fan out at voting locations across Texas.”

How threats against women in power are tied to threats against democracy

“Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency, has long been the focus of negative political ads and campaign rhetoric. But the attacks have become more layered with threats of violence and misogyny, and social media has allowed them to spread more easily. It’s both dangerous to Pelosi and other women in positions of power and discouraging to women who might otherwise run for office, experts say,” the 19th’s Barbara Rodriguez and Jennifer Gerson report.

Fortune 500 companies have given millions to election deniers since Jan. 6

“In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, more than 100 major companies pledged to suspend political giving to the members of Congress who voted to invalidate Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Since then, many have resumed funding this group of lawmakers, often with little to no explanation,” ProPublica’s Sergio Hernandez and Nat Lash report.

“ProPublica wanted to gauge corporate America’s continued support for these officials by tallying donations from a recognizable group: companies in the Fortune 500, whose political arms have sent these lawmakers nearly $13.2 million during the 2021-2022 election cycle.” Click through to see each company’s top beneficiaries and individual contributions and how long companies kept their promises.

Biden hopes to use Florida’s ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ as foils for his closing midterm pitch

“For months, Biden and his team have been hoping to use Florida’s constellation of Trump-aligned Republicans — including the former president himself — to crystallize Biden’s closing pitch that the election is a choice and not a referendum and galvanize Democratic voters,” CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, Kevin Liptak and MJ Lee report.

U.S. ban on Americans aiding China chip firms narrower than feared

“The rules seem to be mostly targeting US persons working in certain functions for semiconductor manufacturing equipment firms, based on a document the Bureau of Industry and Security published last Friday to clarify export control measures announced on Oct. 7,” Bloomberg News’ Debby Wu and Jenny Leonard report.

Justice Dept. says ballot drop box monitoring in Ariz. is likely illegal

“The Justice Department stepped in to an ongoing Arizona election lawsuit Monday, supporting a claim by the League of Women Voters of Arizona that monitoring ballot drop boxes can amount to illegal voter intimidation,” Tom Hamburger and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report.

“The department said such ‘vigilante ballot security measures,‘ including filming voters at drop boxes, probably violates the federal Voting Rights Act.”

The new Silver Line extension, visualized

“The second half of Metro’s long-anticipated Silver Line in Northern Virginia will open Nov. 15, the transit agency announced Monday, expanding the system’s footprint deeper into Washington’s suburbs after years of cost overruns and delays,” Justin George reports.

Jewish leaders call on GOP candidates to reject antisemitic comments

“Jewish leaders raised alarms Monday about antisemitism they say is increasingly normalized in American politics after a series of bigoted comments from associates or supporters of GOP candidates and growing calls for them to firmly reject such rhetoric,” Hannah Knowles, Colby Itkowitz and Isaac Arnsdorf report.

How a libertarian came around to endorse Masters in Arizona

“Libertarian candidate Marc Victor’s decision to end his campaign for Arizona Senate and endorse Blake Masters could be consequential in a very close race. Victor told me over the weekend that Masters’s campaign had reached out to his office and that he was getting all sorts of entreaties from supporters to help the Republican candidate in this final stretch, with the margins narrowing,” Hannah Knowles reports.

“Victor criticized Masters harshly at points during a debate this fall but in the end saw him as more of an ally than Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.”

Biden will leave the White House for Andrews at 11:05 a.m., where he will fly to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He will land at 1:50 p.m.

At 3 p.m., Biden will speak about Social Security, Medicare and lowering drug costs in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

At 4:45 p.m., he will attend a fundraiser for Charlie Crist, the Democrat running for governor in Golden Beach, Fla.

Biden will travel to Miami’s Opa-Locka Airport at 5:45 p.m.

At 7 p.m., he will participate in an event for Crist and Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who is running for Senate against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Biden will leave for Fort Lauderdale at 8:05 p.m., where he will fly to D.C. He is expected at the White House at 10:45 p.m.

“[Steve] Kornacki is on a monomaniacal quest for clarity, regarding both the returns and what they mean about the country. Watching him seek answers is so addictive that MSNBC delivers a constant stream of it on election nights: He appears in a square in the corner of the screen even when he is not addressing the camera or doing anything that would traditionally appeal to an audience, such as ‘not texting.‘ ‘We were doing one of the congressional primaries, and it was the first time we all felt like — I personally felt like — we can’t take Steve off the screen,‘ [Marc Greenstein, senior vice president of design and production at NBC News and MSNBC,] says of the 2018 election coverage,” Anna Peele reports.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.