In his weekly address the President lays out his strategy to expand responsible and safe oil production in the United States:

[W]e should increase safe and responsible oil production here at home. Last year, America’s oil production reached its highest level since 2003. But I believe that we should expand oil production in America—even as we increase safety and environmental standards.

To do this, I am directing the Department of Interior to conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, while respecting sensitive areas, and to speed up the evaluation of oil and gas resources in the mid and south Atlantic. We plan to lease new areas in the Gulf of Mexico as well, and work to create new incentives for industry to develop their unused leases both on and offshore.

There’s a trend emerging among oil and gas companies in 2011, and that trend is record profits. Here’s a snapshot of some oil companies’ numbers from the first quarter: 

Exxon Mobil Corp.: $10.7 billion (26 percent increase)
Shell: $6.9 billion (30 percent increase)
Royal Dutch Shell: $6.3 billion
BP: $5.5 billion (135 percent increase)
ConocoPhillips: $3.03 billion
Occidental Petroleum Corp: $1.55 billion (46 percent increase)

In some areas of the country, gas prices are approaching $5 dollars a gallon, money that goes directly from the pocketbooks of American families to these companies’ profit margin.

These profits, however, aren’t fed by market forces alone; they are buttressed by $4 billion per year in government subsidies. 

As American families struggle to fill their tanks and keep their budgets in the black, they shouldn’t also have to foot the bill for oil and gas companies reaping windfall profits in their own right – that’s why President Obama called on Congress to end those subsidies.  

Earlier this week, President Obama sent a letter to leaders in Congress urging them to end the unfair and unnecessary tax breaks for the oil and gas companies. And Republican Speaker Boehner agreed, telling ABC News that eliminating the tax breaks for oil companies is, “certainly something we should be looking at.”

If Speaker Boehner is serious about helping American families instead of big oil companies, than he will keep his word and end their tax breaks.

In a letter today sent to House and Senate leaders of both parties, President Obama called on Congress to end tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. While the American economy has grown steadily over the past 13 months, creating more than 1.8 million jobs, the rising cost at the pump is hurting families and has begun to threaten our recovery.

The President recognizes that no single policy will fix America’s energy problems overnight, but eliminating tax breaks for oil companies is a step we can take right now:

Our outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in these subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter. In fact, in the past CEO’s of the major oil companies made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic exploration and production without special tax breaks. As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can’t afford these wasteful subsidies, and that is why I proposed to eliminate them in my FY11 and FY12 budgets.

This might be an issue with bipartisan agreement. Recently, Speaker Boehner told ABC News that eliminating the tax breaks for oil companies is, “certainly something we should be looking at.” Boehner continued:

We're in a time when the federal government's short on revenues. They ought to be paying their fair share. Everybody wants to go after the oil companies and frankly, they've got some part of this to blame.

That's exactly why the President urged immediate action—something Congress is empowered to do.

Additionally, President Obama hopes to extend the discussion about our long-term strategy to create sustainable and stable energy future:

[W]e need to get to work immediately on the longer term goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and our vulnerability to price fluctuations this dependence creates. Without a comprehensive energy strategy for the future we will stay stuck in the same old pattern of heated political rhetoric when prices rise and apathy and neglect when they fall again.

I recently laid out my approach to a comprehensive strategy in my Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, which includes safe and responsible production of our domestic oil and gas resources and doubling down on fuel efficiency in the transportation sector while investing in everything from wind and solar to biofuels and natural gas. None of you will agree with every aspect of this strategy. But I am confident that, in many areas, we can work together to help show the American people that we can make progress on an energy policy that creates jobs and makes our country more secure.

Just as the President said, Democrats and Republicans may not agree on every aspect of America’s energy policy, but they should come together now to do what’s fair and end tax breaks for the oil and gas industry.

The President will continue to advocate for greater investment in renewable energy and the development of innovative technologies that make America more competitive.

Click here to read President Obama’s full letter to congressional leadership.

The President sets out his plan to reduce gas prices over the short and long term in the Weekly Address.

Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy sources, we need to invest in tomorrow’s. We need to invest in clean, renewable energy. In the long term, that’s the answer. That’s the key to helping families at the pump and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We can see that promise already. Thanks to an historic agreement we secured with all the major auto companies, we’re raising the fuel economy of cars and trucks in America, using hybrid technology and other advances. As a result, if you buy a new car in the next few years, the better gas mileage is going to save you about $3,000 at the pump.