The oil and gas industry receives billions of dollars of government support each year through loopholes in the tax code and royalty-free lease agreements. These subsidies dwarf the incentives that are currently available for renewable energy and energy efficiency and distort the market in favor of this mature industry that is a major source of global warming and other toxic pollutants. President Obama called for the elimination of many of these subsidies in his budgets for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and agreed to eliminate these subsidies in a pledge made with other world leaders at a Group of 20 Summit in 2009. Congress, however, has not taken the steps necessary to end these subsidies.

In June, the Senate took up H.R. 4213, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010, which would extend unemployment benefits to long term out of work Americans for an additional four months. Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) offered an amendment to the bill to eliminate $35 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry, giveaways which were targeted for elimination in the President's budget; $25 billion of the savings would go to deficit reduction and $10 billion would be directed to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, a grant program that allows communities to invest in projects that reduce energy usage.

On June 15, the Senate rejected the Sanders amendment by a vote of 35–61 (Senate roll call vote 187). Yes is the pro environment vote.