From Firedoglake:
Ron Wyden has long been a big supporter of progressive energy policy within the Senate. He’s on CSPAN-2 right now passionately filibustering against the "outrageous boondoggle" (as he calls it) for the oil companies that his amendment seeks to take away. It’s quite heroic.
Not that you won't see this part too when you click on the link, but...
What does the Wyden Amendment do?
It prohibits the Department of Interior from providing any additional royalty relief as long as the price of oil is above $55 per barrel while providing an exception in cases where royalty relief is needed to avoid supply disruptions because of hurricanes or other natural disasters.
Why do we need this Amendment?
With oil selling for more than $70 a barrel — $15 a barrel higher than at the price the President said incentives weren’t needed — Congress should not continue giving away more taxpayer money for unnecessary subsidies to benefit profitable energy interests. We should prohibit further royalty relief and save our citizens hardearned tax dollars for more worthy uses. President Bush has repeatedly said that “With $55-a-barrel oil, companies don’t need incentives to explore for oil and gas.” Today, the price of oil is well over $70 per barrel and yet oil and gas companies continue to receive taxpayer subsidies to explore. According to U.S. News & World Report the Federal government will “dole out $7 billion in breaks to the oil industry over the next five years.” And if that isn’t bad enough, the amount of that subsidy “could increase fivefold.”
How much do these subsidies cost?
We’re talking about subsides for oil and gas companies of as much $35 billion.
Basically, Wyden's calling for an up/down vote on this so everybody is forced to reveal that they side with the oil companies instead of their constituents. I highly doubt it will work, but little by little, it appears that Democrats are realizing that it's okay to stand for something even when you know you won't win the vote. We should start a "Good Congressmen" with all the other Good lists, but...well, that would take some time (well, not that much time since there aren't that many of them), so for now let's just say that Senators Wyden and Feingold are definitely on the list.
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