Because Exxon needs it

That's why:

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a record quarterly profit for a U.S. company on Monday $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and gas prices and demand for refined products.

The company's earnings amounted to $1.71 per share, up from $8.42 billion, or $1.30 per share, in the year ago quarter. The result topped the then-record quarterly profit of $9.92 billion Exxon posted in the 2005 third quarter.

Meanwhile:

Millions of low-income people would have to pay more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments and premiums, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.

The Senate has already approved the measure, the first major effort to rein in federal benefit programs in eight years, and the House is expected to vote Wednesday, clearing the bill for President Bush.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mr. Bush plans to recommend a variety of steps to help people obtain health insurance and cope with rising health costs. But the bill, the Deficit Reduction Act, written by Congress over the last year with support from the White House, could reduce coverage and increase the number of uninsured, the budget office said.

I'm not saying that Exxon benefits from the decision to cut low income workers from health care. But it seems odd that, in a time when more Americans are losing health care and falling into poverty, Exxon continues to post record profits, and the only response from Capitol Hill is tax cuts for the oil industry.

It must have something to do with me being a Democrat and not being in tune with moral values.