House Democrats are moving on several fronts to keep political pressure on the supercommittee to repeal oil-and-gas industry tax breaks in its deficit-reduction package.

The latest effort came in a Friday letter from 38 members, spearheaded by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), that argues “the United States can no longer afford to give away billions of dollars every year to corporations earning billions of dollars in profits.”

The letter claims that eliminating fossil fuel industry subsidies could reduce the debt by up to $122 billion over a decade. It states:

Tax credits that should be eliminated include the tax credit for refineries, which costs the United States over $1.3 billion over ten years and increases our dependence on tar sands oil, and broader tax subsidies, such as the “last in, first out” accounting for inventories that costs taxpayers $52 billion over ten years with oil and gas companies receiving the bulk of that subsidy.

Separately, Democratic ranking members from multiple committees are urging the bicameral, bipartisan supercommittee — which is seeking at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over a decade — to keep a repeal of oil industry incentives on the table.

The members submitted their recommendations to the supercommittee last week.

They include a call by Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to remove tax breaks, such as the industry’s ability to claim a lucrative domestic manufacturing deduction.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, urged the supercommittee to restrict royalty-free production on certain offshore leases and institute a fee on nonproducing leases. The ranking members’ submissions can all be found here.

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