Bush's energy bill is a sellout crafted behind closed doors (Who benefit$?

[Kolesar]

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20031124/opinion/699746.html
Gainesville (GA) Times

Bush's energy bill is a sellout crafted behind closed doors

EDITORIAL The Bush administration's energy policy and its $31
billion bill that's emerged in Congress seem to be a pretty
sweet deal for big business, including at least one in Georgia.

Administration policy was crafted largely in secret by Vice
President Dick Cheney and energy industry executives shortly
after President Bush assumed office in 2001. The White House
refused on several occasions to make public documents that
involved the energy policy discussions, leaving many people
skeptical about who truly might benefit from the recommendations
sent to Republican leaders in Congress. Many of the
participants, you see, were generous contributors to the Bush-
Cheney 2000 election campaign.

The bill, now facing scrutiny, criticism and possibly filibuster
in the Senate, makes winners of the president's financial
backers and fund-raisers in the energy industry at the expense
of public interest. The legislation would provide $23.5 billion
in tax breaks to the industry over 10 years and $5.4 billion in
subsidies and loan guarantees.

Who benefits? According to a Washington Post examination of the
energy bill, companies run by 22 executives and their spouses
who have been designated as top fund-raisers for Bush's re-
election campaign would come out winners to the tune of billions
of dollars. The benefits also would extend to companies
represented by 15 lobbyists and their wives, who have been
dubbed "Rangers" and "Pioneers" by the Bush campaign.