During these tough financial times everybody needs to honestly sit down at the table andwork together to address the economic and budgetary problems facing this nation.

There’s no question that we need to reduce the deficit and cut spending.

Addressing our budget deficits will take compromise, and it will take shared sacrifice from everyone. That includes big oil companies that are making record profits because the price of oil is now $100 a barrel.

At a time when we have to make tough choices to address our budget deficit, Minnesotans are paying almost $4 a gallon at the pump, and oil companies are raking in record profits, we have to stand up and say: enough is enough. It's time to end the subsidies.

That’s why I joined my colleagues in urging the Vice President to include ending these subsidies in the budget deal to ensure that oil companies pay their fair share to help lower the deficit, just as working class taxpayers do.

Closing the tax loopholes for big oil companies would recoup an estimated $45 billion over the next decade, money that currently pads oil company profits while doing nothing to lower gas prices.

Some people claim that eliminating these subsidies will increase the price of gas, but the Treasury Department reported that if a similar package of oil subsidies were cut, “world supply would fall by less than one-tenth of one percent.” Eliminating these subsidies would cause little or no impact on consumer energy prices in the immediate future.

It makes sense to subsidize emerging technologies for a short time until they can compete in the market. That’s why we began subsidizing oil companies as far back as 1916. However, in 2011 there is absolutely no rationale for subsidies to big oil companies making record profits. How much money do these companies have to make - and how much time do they need - before they don't need the government's help anymore?

I believe Americans come together in tough times and make sacrifices. We're all not going to get everything we want, and that includes big oil executives. At a time when almost 14 million Americans are unemployed, at a time when job training andother assistance programs are being cut, it's unconscionable for companies making record profits to refuse to do their part. It's unconscionable for them to refuse to give up even one penny of subsidies that they don't need.

That’s why I will continue to fight to end these wasteful subsidies and I hope you will join me.