Skip to content Skip to footer

Warren Argues Windfall Profits Tax Can Help Democrats Avert Big Midterm Losses

The senator noted that there is much President Biden can do unilaterally to deliver relief to people across the U.S.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks as Rep. Mondaire Jones listens during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on April 27, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

With the pivotal 2022 midterms just months away, Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned in a New York Times op-ed Monday that Democrats are “headed toward big losses” if they fail to deliver on the promises that helped them win control of Congress and the presidency — including tax hikes on massive corporations.

The Massachusetts Democrat argued that “passing a windfall profits tax” on the fossil fuel companies benefiting massively from global energy chaos — a proposal that is overwhelmingly popular with U.S. voters — would be a “good start” as the majority party looks to prevent the GOP from retaking the House and Senate in November.

“Oil and gas companies should not make gobs of money off this energy crisis,” Warren wrote, pointing to survey data showing that 75% of U.S. voters agree with that sentiment.

“Time is running short,” Warren continued. “We need to finalize a budget reconciliation deal, making giant corporations pay their share to fund vital investments in combating climate change and lowering costs for families, which can advance with only 50 Senate votes.”

Warren’s op-ed came as much of her party’s social spending and climate agenda, known as the Build Back Better Act, remains stalled in the Senate due to opposition from a unified Republican caucus as well as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Last month, a group of Democrats including Warren introduced legislation that would impose a tax on oil giants that are reaping huge profits as they hike prices at the pump, using Russia’s war on Ukraine as a justification. The bill has yet to receive a vote in either the House or the Senate.

“Like many Americans, I’m frustrated by our failure to get big things done — things that are both badly needed and very popular with all Americans,” Warren wrote Monday. “While Republican politicians obstruct many efforts to improve people’s lives and many swear loyalty to the Big Lie, the urgency of the next election bears down on us.”

“Democrats cannot bow to the wisdom of out-of-touch consultants who recommend we simply tout our accomplishments,” she added. “Instead, Democrats need to deliver more of the president’s agenda — or else we will not be in the majority much longer.”

In addition to stressing the urgency of congressional action, Warren noted that there is much President Joe Biden can do unilaterally to deliver relief to people across the United States — including younger voters, a key Democratic constituency that has been souring on the president as he fails to deliver on his promises of bold climate action and student debt cancellation.

“By a margin of more than two-to-one, Americans support providing some student loan debt cancellation — an action the president could take entirely on his own,” Warren noted. “Doing so would lift the economic outlook for too many borrowers who weren’t able to get a college diploma, for the millions of women borrowers who shoulder about two-thirds of all student loan debt, and for Black and Hispanic borrowers, a higher percentage of whom take on debt to attend college compared to white students, and have a harder time paying it off after school.”

“And he can do more,” Warren continued. “Decisive action on everything from lowering prescription drug prices to ensuring that more workers are eligible for overtime pay can be executed by the president alone, using the authority already given to him by existing laws, without rounding up 50 Senate votes.”

Warren’s message appeared in the Times on Tax Day, which Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is using to attack the GOP tax agenda outlined by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).

In February, Scott — the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — unveiled a proposal that would increase annual taxes on the poorest 40% of people in the U.S. by $1,000 on average.

As The Hill reported Monday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) marked Tax Day by “rolling out billboards in Florida and Wisconsin, hitting Republicans over” Scott’s plan.

“If Senate Republicans have their way, hard-working Americans — including seniors, families with children, and individuals making less than $40,000 per year — would all have to pay more when they file their taxes today,” DSCC spokesperson Nora Keefe told The Hill.

We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.

As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.

Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.

As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.

At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.

Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.

You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.