Schumer: Use oil company profits to pay higher school heat bills

WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles Schumer said profit-reaping oil companies should help pay the high cost of heating schools this winter. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, are pushing legislation that would provide federal funding to help heat schools. Schumer said that money should come from oil companies. Across New York state, school administrators are taking steps to deal with expected budget shortfalls brought on by expected high heating bills this winter. Some have recommended students bring a sweater in case they feel cold due to a slightly lower thermostat. Spikes in heating and transportation costs due to high oil prices will leave the average school district with a shortfall of more than $155,000, the senator said, for a statewide total of almost $90 million. Schumer said he is worried about what else might be cut from school budgets as educators try to pay their bills. “The choice between books and fuel is not one that any school district should have to make,” he said. The senators want to add their amendment to a federal bill designed to decrease, rather than increase, the federal budget. That bill’s prospects are already uncertain, given ongoing disagreements within Congress about proposed cuts for hospitals, food stamps, and other programs. Many other Democrats in Congress are pushing for a windfall-profits tax to be imposed on the major oil companies, and Schumer’s version would direct the money toward helping pay school heating bills around the country. Testifying before Congress, Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman Lee Raymond said it would be a mistake for the government to impose “punitive measures hastily crafted in response to short-term market fluctuations. He said such a move would likely lead to less investment in refineries and other oil projects. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, earned nearly $10 billion in the third quarter.