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Hi,
While the Trump administration expects ordinary Americans to weather this crisis with a single $1,200 check, it has bailed out fossil fuel companies through the Federal Reserve program to buy corporate debt.
Congress must not allow the Federal Reserve to bail out the companies that are actively causing climate change, especially while leaving regular people to suffer from rising unemployment, hunger, poverty, and homelessness.
Will you help put an end to the bailout of the fossil fuel industry?
Sign the petition: Stop the fossil fuel bailouts!
Since the Federal Reserve program started in March, fossil fuel companies have issued $100 billion worth of bonds, some of which were bought directly by the Federal Reserve.1 And some of the fossil fuel companies that issued bonds, which were already debt-laden, said they wouldn’t have survived without the lifeline.
While the Fed was busy bailing out the fossil fuel industry, small businesses and city and state governments had to pay a steeper price for credit, or couldn’t access it at all.2
The fossil fuel industry was already in bad shape before the pandemic. Oil and gas companies had a lot of debt, and global oil markets were crashing because of the disintegration of the OPEC alliance.3
And of course, governments were starting to come to terms with the fact that oil companies were the biggest contributors to climate change, and fossil fuels needed to be replaced with clean energy sources to save our planet from ecological catastrophe.
It is the job of Congress to oversee the activities of the Fed –– and Congress even set up a special commission to serve as a watchdog for the government's pandemic response. That commission must step up and do its job by investigating the bailout of our nation’s biggest polluters, including those that may not have survived without the bailout.
Tell Congress: Investigate the bailout of the fossil fuel industry!
Thanks for taking action,
Robert and the team at Demand Progress
Sources:
1. Public Citizen, "Big Oil's $100 Billion Bender," September 30, 2020.
2. The Intercept, "Fed Lending Saved Corporate America. It Could Do the Same for Cities and States.," October 8, 2020.
3. Bloomberg News, "Everything Goes Wrong at Once for Distressed Energy Debt Issuers," March 9, 2020.
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