Big Oil needed Bush’s help. Two of the industry’s sacred cows were in danger. One was a 27.5 percent tax depletion allowance, which dated back to 1926. The allowance benefited the oil industry by removing much of the financial risk investors faced when they invested in oil ventures, which required substantial start-up capital investment. Drillers argued that the risks of hitting a dry spot would be prohibitively high for most investors and national oil production would suffer if the allowance were repealed.

The other major national oil policy of the time was a system of high quotas put in place to protect domestic oil companies from cheaper foreign oil. Removing the quotas, the oil industry argued, could produce a national security threat and would risk domestic oil production. It would pose a direct threat to their profits earned through domestic drilling ventures, too.

In the late 1960s, a spirited band of liberals in Congress were eager for reform, and the inequalities of the tax code were major targets. The oil industry found itself on the defensive as the reformers targeted the oil depletion allowance as a government “giveaway” for Big Oil. Today, it would be called corporate welfare.

For the coming fight over oil policy, newly sworn in President Nixon appointed a Cabinet-level task force headed by Labor Secretary George Schulz to examine the issue in early 1969 and find compromises to present to Capitol Hill.

While Big Oil had many friends in Congress eager to defend their interests, Congressman Bush could be counted on as one of their most loyal supporters. He argued against reducing the allowance and strongly opposed changing the quota system. [See Parmet’s George Bush.]

By 1969, however, the reformers were gaining momentum. It was becoming clear that compromise would have to be reached. The Nixon Administration Task Force proposed a reduction of the 27.5 percent tax allowance to 20 percent. With that as a starting point, the debate moved to Congress, where the oil industry’s allies were able to increase the proposed allowance to 22 percent. The bill passed 394-30, with Bush voting for passage.