An amount of crude oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster may be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days, according to a new government calculation.  The new report on Thursday virtually doubled the estimate of how much oil has spewed from the out-of-control BP well.  Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday introduced legislation to take away huge tax breaks for Big Oil. One result would be more investment in energy efficiency. Another upside is that his proposal would lower the federal deficit.  Wasteful spending also would be reduced if we followed recommendations in a new study Sanders commissioned. It detailed how billions of dollars are wasted by the Department of Defense on unneeded spare parts.

Repeal Big Oil Tax Breaks BP posted $5.6 billion in first-quarter profits. Exxon Mob il, the world rsquo; ;s most profitable corporation, paid no federal income taxes for 2009 and – guess what? – received a $156 million IRS refund. Enough is enough! Oil industry tax breaks that Bernie called "obscene" would be repealed by an amendment he filed Wednesday. Outlining the proposal in a floor speech, he said it would begin to transform our energy system away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels by investing $10 billion in energy efficiency and sustainable energy, and cut the deficit by $25 billion. Another bill Bernie filed in the wake of the BP oil disaster would ban offshore ocean drilling and make cars get far better gas mileage. "Sanders gets it," Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote for The Nation. 

Global Warming The Senate on Thursday defeated a Republican-led effort to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. The Senate voted 53 to 47 to reject an attempt to block the E.P.A. from imposing new limits on carbon emissions based on its 2009 finding that the gases threaten human health and the environment. Sanders framed the debate in terms of science vs. politics. "With all of this evidence who's arguing against global warming? Who's saying that it's not real?” he asked. “Well, the well-known climate expert Glenn Beck has suggested that climate scientists should commit suicide and compared Al Gore to Adolf Hitler. Rush Limbaugh, another scientist of outstanding repute, said global warming is bogus and is the work of pseudo scientists." To watch the speech, click here.

Pentagon Waste The Defense Department bought billions of dollars worth of spare parts that were not needed, according to a new congressional investigation that Bernie requested. "With a $13 trillion national debt, the waste of taxpayer dollars is unbelievable," he told ABC News. Click here to read the ABC report and watch the video. To read more about the GAO investigation, including the report itself, click here.

Rx Rebates As the new health care law takes effect, the first batch of $250 rebate checks went out Thursday to more than three million seniors to help them afford prescription drugs.  Rebates are in store for about 9,000 Vermonters affected by a gap in the Medicare prescription drug program. The so-called doughnut hole will be eliminated by 2020. For more information on the rebate program, click here.