Tom DeLay Inserts a $1.5 Billion Boondoggle into the Bush Energy Monstrosity

You might be justified in thinking that the energy monstrosity couldn't get any uglier, but Think Progress highlights a $1.5 billion boondoggle inserted into the energy bill by Tom DeLay after the conference committee met to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the bill. A letter from Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman to Speaker Dennis Hastert sums up this particularly egregious provision:

In short, the subtitle provides that taxpayers will hire a private consortium controlled by the oil and gas industry to hand out over $1 billion to oil and gas companies. There is no conceivable rationale for this extraordinary largesse.

As if there weren't enough reasons to defeat this appalling piece of legislation.