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U.S. Rep Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) speaks in a video published on October 11, 2022 by the Stop the Oil Profiteering campaign. (Photo: screenshot/Stop the Oil Profiteering)
"Big Oil has been making us pay. It's about time we make them pay."
That's the message that progressive U.S. Rep Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has for voters in a pair of videos published Tuesday as part of a campaign to push members of Congress to enact windfall profits tax legislation.
"Big Oil has mastered the art of profiteering," Khanna says while standing outside a filling station in one of the videos, which was produced by the Stop the Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. "It's less than half a mile from this ExxonMobil station to the U.S. Capitol, but the path from your wallet to the pockets of Big Oil is even more direct."
"Over the last eight months, Big Oil companies have raked in over $100 billion in profits by limiting supply and jacking up prices," he continues. "Big Oil says they're investing all that money in lowering gas prices or funding climate solutions. But that's not true. Big Oil is using their excess profits for billions in stock buybacks designed to reward their CEOs and wealthy shareholders."
As photos of fossil fuel boosters in U.S. Congress including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are shown in the video, Khanna says that fossil fuel corporations are "also using their profits trying to corrupt our political process."
"For decades, Big Oil has spread lies about the climate crisis," he adds, "and that disinformation campaign continues today, with the help of some of the world's largest PR and ad agencies."
Khanna claims that "progressives in Congress are fighting back," pointing to the recent "passage of the largest climate bill in U.S. history," as well as the introduction of legislation to "end fossil fuel subsidies and put an excess profits tax on the wealthiest oil and gas corporations."
\u201cMillions of working people are struggling to make ends meet with high gas prices and utility bills. Watch and share our latest video with @RoKhanna on why Big Oil is to blame and how a windfall profits tax can help bring immediate relief. \ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f #BlameBigOil\u201d— Stop The Oil Profiteering (@Stop The Oil Profiteering) 1665493201
Dozens of congressional Democrats, as well as other Democratic leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, back a windfall profits tax.
In March, Khanna and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, which Khanna called an attempt "to curb profiteering by oil companies and provide Americans relief at the gas pump."
Later that month, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Ending Corporate Greed Act, which would subject major corporations to a 95% tax on windfall profits.
Related Content
Fossil Free Media, a nonprofit media lab supporting the movement to end fossil fuels, claims that more than 8 in 10 U.S. voters want a windfall profits tax.
"The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax remains the most direct way to hold Big Oil accountable and get money back in the wallets of hard-working Americans," said Jamie Henn, founder and director of Fossil Free Media and spokesperson for the STOP campaign. "It's past time that Congress take action and stop the oil profiteering."
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"Big Oil has been making us pay. It's about time we make them pay."
That's the message that progressive U.S. Rep Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has for voters in a pair of videos published Tuesday as part of a campaign to push members of Congress to enact windfall profits tax legislation.
"Big Oil has mastered the art of profiteering," Khanna says while standing outside a filling station in one of the videos, which was produced by the Stop the Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. "It's less than half a mile from this ExxonMobil station to the U.S. Capitol, but the path from your wallet to the pockets of Big Oil is even more direct."
"Over the last eight months, Big Oil companies have raked in over $100 billion in profits by limiting supply and jacking up prices," he continues. "Big Oil says they're investing all that money in lowering gas prices or funding climate solutions. But that's not true. Big Oil is using their excess profits for billions in stock buybacks designed to reward their CEOs and wealthy shareholders."
As photos of fossil fuel boosters in U.S. Congress including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are shown in the video, Khanna says that fossil fuel corporations are "also using their profits trying to corrupt our political process."
"For decades, Big Oil has spread lies about the climate crisis," he adds, "and that disinformation campaign continues today, with the help of some of the world's largest PR and ad agencies."
Khanna claims that "progressives in Congress are fighting back," pointing to the recent "passage of the largest climate bill in U.S. history," as well as the introduction of legislation to "end fossil fuel subsidies and put an excess profits tax on the wealthiest oil and gas corporations."
\u201cMillions of working people are struggling to make ends meet with high gas prices and utility bills. Watch and share our latest video with @RoKhanna on why Big Oil is to blame and how a windfall profits tax can help bring immediate relief. \ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f #BlameBigOil\u201d— Stop The Oil Profiteering (@Stop The Oil Profiteering) 1665493201
Dozens of congressional Democrats, as well as other Democratic leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, back a windfall profits tax.
In March, Khanna and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, which Khanna called an attempt "to curb profiteering by oil companies and provide Americans relief at the gas pump."
Later that month, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Ending Corporate Greed Act, which would subject major corporations to a 95% tax on windfall profits.
Related Content
Fossil Free Media, a nonprofit media lab supporting the movement to end fossil fuels, claims that more than 8 in 10 U.S. voters want a windfall profits tax.
"The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax remains the most direct way to hold Big Oil accountable and get money back in the wallets of hard-working Americans," said Jamie Henn, founder and director of Fossil Free Media and spokesperson for the STOP campaign. "It's past time that Congress take action and stop the oil profiteering."
"Big Oil has been making us pay. It's about time we make them pay."
That's the message that progressive U.S. Rep Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has for voters in a pair of videos published Tuesday as part of a campaign to push members of Congress to enact windfall profits tax legislation.
"Big Oil has mastered the art of profiteering," Khanna says while standing outside a filling station in one of the videos, which was produced by the Stop the Oil Profiteering (STOP) campaign. "It's less than half a mile from this ExxonMobil station to the U.S. Capitol, but the path from your wallet to the pockets of Big Oil is even more direct."
"Over the last eight months, Big Oil companies have raked in over $100 billion in profits by limiting supply and jacking up prices," he continues. "Big Oil says they're investing all that money in lowering gas prices or funding climate solutions. But that's not true. Big Oil is using their excess profits for billions in stock buybacks designed to reward their CEOs and wealthy shareholders."
As photos of fossil fuel boosters in U.S. Congress including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are shown in the video, Khanna says that fossil fuel corporations are "also using their profits trying to corrupt our political process."
"For decades, Big Oil has spread lies about the climate crisis," he adds, "and that disinformation campaign continues today, with the help of some of the world's largest PR and ad agencies."
Khanna claims that "progressives in Congress are fighting back," pointing to the recent "passage of the largest climate bill in U.S. history," as well as the introduction of legislation to "end fossil fuel subsidies and put an excess profits tax on the wealthiest oil and gas corporations."
\u201cMillions of working people are struggling to make ends meet with high gas prices and utility bills. Watch and share our latest video with @RoKhanna on why Big Oil is to blame and how a windfall profits tax can help bring immediate relief. \ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f #BlameBigOil\u201d— Stop The Oil Profiteering (@Stop The Oil Profiteering) 1665493201
Dozens of congressional Democrats, as well as other Democratic leaders including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, back a windfall profits tax.
In March, Khanna and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, which Khanna called an attempt "to curb profiteering by oil companies and provide Americans relief at the gas pump."
Later that month, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Ending Corporate Greed Act, which would subject major corporations to a 95% tax on windfall profits.
Related Content
Fossil Free Media, a nonprofit media lab supporting the movement to end fossil fuels, claims that more than 8 in 10 U.S. voters want a windfall profits tax.
"The Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax remains the most direct way to hold Big Oil accountable and get money back in the wallets of hard-working Americans," said Jamie Henn, founder and director of Fossil Free Media and spokesperson for the STOP campaign. "It's past time that Congress take action and stop the oil profiteering."
In some cases, corporate groups have posed as small business owners besieged by rising crime rates.
U.S. President Donald Trump's military occupation of Washington, D.C. has been egged on for months by corporate lobbyists. In some cases, they have posed as small business owners besieged by rising crime rates.
According to a report Tuesday in The Lever:
Last February, the American Investment Council, private equity's $24 million lobbying shop, penned a letter to D.C. city leaders demanding "immediate action" to address an "alarming increase" in crime.
That letter was published as an exclusive by Axios with the headline: "Downtown D.C. Business Leaders Demand Crime Solutions."
But far from a group of beleaguered mom-and-pops, the letter's signatories "included some of the biggest trade groups on K Street," The Lever observed:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which boasts its status as the largest business organization in the world; the National Retail Federation, a powerful retail alliance representing giants like Walmart and Target; and Airlines for America, which represents the major U.S. airlines, among others. These lobbying juggernauts spend tens of millions of dollars every year lobbying federal lawmakers to get their way in Washington."
It was one of many efforts by right-wing groups to agitate for a more fearsome police crackdown in the city and oppose criminal justice reforms.
On multiple occasions, business groups and police unions have helped to thwart efforts by the D.C. city council to rewrite the city's criminal code, which has not been updated in over a century, to eliminate many mandatory minimum sentences and reduce sentences for some nonviolent offenses.
The reforms were vetoed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2023. After the veto was overridden by the city council, Democrats helped Republicans pass a law squashing the reforms, which was signed by then-President Joe Biden.
In 2024, groups like the Chamber of Commerce pushed the "Secure D.C." bill in the city council, which expanded pre-trial detention, weakened restrictions on chokeholds, and limited public access to police disciplinary records.
At the time, business groups lauded these changes as necessary to fight the post-pandemic crime spike D.C. was experiencing.
But crime rates in D.C. have fallen precipitously, to a 30-year low over the course of 2024. As a press release from the U.S. attorney's office released on January 3, 2025 stated: "homicides are down 32%; robberies are down 39%; armed carjackings are down 53%; assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 27% when compared with 2023 levels."
Nevertheless, as Trump sends federal troops into D.C., many in the corporate world are still cheering.
In a statement Monday, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce described itself as a "strong supporter" of the Home Rule Act, which Trump used to enact his federal crackdown.
The Washington Business Journal quoted multiple consultancy executives—including Yaman Coskum, who exclaimed that "It is about time somebody did something to make D.C. great again," and Kirk McLaren who said, "If local leaders won't protect residents and businesses, let's see if the federal government will step in and do what's necessary to create a safe and prosperous city."
Despite crime also being on the decline in every other city he has singled out—Los Angeles, Baltimore, Oakland, New York, and Chicago—Trump has said his deployment of federal troops "will go further."
"California will now draw new, more 'beautiful maps,'" wrote Newsom's press office in a Trump-style social media post.
The office of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night revealed that the governor was going ahead with plans to redraw California's congressional map with the goal of counteracting Republicans' planned mid-decade gerrymander in Texas.
In a post on X, Newsom's press office made the announcement while openly parodying the social media posting style of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"DONALD 'TACO' TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, 'MISSED' THE DEADLINE!!!" the post began. "CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE 'BEAUTIFUL MAPS,' THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM—YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR—THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR 'MAGA.' THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!"
The announcement came less than two days after Newsom sent a letter to Trump warning the president that he was "playing with fire" by pushing Texas to draw a new map that independent analysts have estimated could net Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
At the time, Newsom also left open the possibility of backing off his threat to redraw California's map if Texas did likewise.
"If you will not stand down I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states," Newsom said. "But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it."
Newsom then informed Trump that he had until late Tuesday to respond to his letter before the California governor took action.
Before redrawing California's map, however, Newsom would have to undo his state's current redistricting process through a special ballot initiative this fall, as for years California's districts have been determined by an independent commission.
As the gerrymandering wars have escalated, pro-democracy watchdog Common Cause this week unveiled a new set of standards for any redistricting effort that includes measures such as using independent commissions and avoiding racial discrimination aimed at reducing the political power of minorities throughout the country.
"Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits," said Rep. John Larson. "It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position."
U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to replace the top labor statistics official he fired earlier this month has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" that needs to be "sunset," comments that critics said further disqualify the nominee for the key government role.
During a December 2024 radio interview, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni said it is a "mathematical fiction" that Social Security "can go on forever" and called for "some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but never actually receive any of those benefits."
"That's the price to pay for unwinding a Ponzi scheme that was foisted on the American people by the Democrats in the 1930s," Antoni continued. "You're not going to be able to sustain a Ponzi scheme like Social Security. Eventually, you need to sunset the program."
Trump's choice for the Commissioner of the Bureau Labor Statistics called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" in an interview:
" What you need to do is have some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but… pic.twitter.com/MXL7k1C644
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) August 12, 2025
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), one of Social Security's most vocal defenders in Congress, said Antoni's position on the program matters because "Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits."
"It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position," Larson said in a statement. "I call on every Senate Republican to stand with Democrats and reject this extreme nominee—before our seniors are denied the benefits they earned through a lifetime of hard work."
Trump announced Antoni's nomination to serve as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) less than two weeks after the president fired the agency's former head, Erika McEntarfer, following the release of abysmal jobs figures. The firing sparked concerns that future BLS data will be manipulated to suit Trump's political interests.
Antoni was a contributor to the far-right Project 2025 agenda that the Trump administration appears to have drawn from repeatedly this year, and his position on Social Security echoes that of far-right billionaire Elon Musk, who has also falsely characterized the program as a Ponzi scheme.
During his time in the Trump administration, Musk spearheaded an assault on the Social Security Administration that continues in the present, causing widespread chaos at the agency and increasing wait times for beneficiaries.
"President Trump fired the commissioner of Labor Statistics to cover up a weak jobs report—and now he is replacing her with a Project 2025 lackey who wants to shut down Social Security," said Larson. "E.J. Antoni agrees with Elon Musk that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and said that middle-class seniors would be better off if it was eliminated."